(Washington) Canada and the United States agree to take a comprehensive, long-term approach to our shared immigration challenges, federal Immigration Minister Sean Fraser said Tuesday after a meeting with his American counterpart, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, in Washington.
Both the Liberal government in Ottawa and the Biden administration in Washington are currently under pressure in the political arena due to the growing number of people choosing to enter their respective countries through unofficial entry routes. .
But this problem cannot be solved with short-term solutions, argued Mr. Fraser during a press conference held at the Canadian Embassy after his meeting.
“We will have to continue to come to terms with this reality of migration,” maintained the Minister.
“But if we add measures at the Canada-US border and along the entire route that migrants take, I believe that we can make significant progress in the coming years. »
These measures, he said, include easier access to immigration programs, increased humanitarian resources for people fleeing violence, and increased upstream communication with people in other countries who may become irregular migrants.
“This long-term approach will require collaboration between several countries that are struggling with irregular immigration to really ensure that we attack the problem at the source, whether it is poverty, violence or persecution”, said Mr. Fraser.
“It will be a hot issue all over the world for the next generations. »
“Productive” conversation about the Safe Third Country Agreement
Quebec Premier François Legault has repeatedly called on the federal government in recent weeks to respond to the massive influx of migrants who enter his province irregularly from the United States.
In response, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has publicly admitted that it is time for Canada and the United States to renegotiate the 2004 agreement that pushes migrants to irregularly cross the border between the two countries.
The Safe Third Country Agreement – the official name of this agreement – allows Canada and the United States to refuse asylum seekers who arrive from the other country and who try to submit a refugee claim to a official point of entry, on the pretext that they are already in a so-called “safe” country.
This treaty, however, does not cover the claims of migrants who arrive in Canada by entering through unofficial crossings, such as Roxham Road in Quebec.
More than 39,000 applications were filed in 2022 by people intercepted by the RCMP at unofficial ports of entry, the vast majority of them in Quebec.
Mr. Fraser revealed that he and Mr. Mayorkas had a “very productive conversation” on the Agreement and that both parties were committed to “continuing the work”.
But when asked by reporters whether his counterpart had shown any enthusiasm to renegotiate the deal, Mr Fraser was cautious.
“Let’s say this is not the first time that Canada and the United States have committed to work on issues related to irregular migration,” said Mr. Fraser.
“It’s a joint priority for good reasons. When we have news to share on specific files, of course, we will. »
Mr. Legault urged Mr. Trudeau to raise the issue of the Safe Third Country Agreement with President Biden, who is expected to make his first official in-person visit to Canada later this month.
“Roxham Road will have to be closed one day, whether we like it or not,” Mr. Legault wrote in a letter sent to Mr. Trudeau in February.
But closing Roxham Road would only push migrants through to other unofficial entry points, Mr Fraser noted.
Hot topic in Washington too
Mr Mayorkas, meanwhile, has been targeted by Republican rivals in Congress who want to hold Democrats accountable for what they call a “crisis” of illegal immigration to the United States.
Some political opponents of Mr. Biden have also started to talk more about the Canada-US border, even if the problems of irregular migration are far from those affecting the US-Mexico border.
These elected officials have formed a new coalition, the “Northern Border Security Caucus”, made up of 28 Republican members of Congress who say they are concerned about the influx of drugs and undocumented migrants from Canada.
From October through January, the first four months of fiscal year 2023, U.S. Customs and Border Protection recorded 55,736 “encounters” at or near the Canada-U.S. border. ci, with people deemed inadmissible to enter the United States.
This is more than double the roughly 24,000 “encounters” that took place in the same four months of the previous year, and already more than half of the 109,535 reported in the entire 12 months of the financial year 2022.