Close X
Monday, November 11, 2024
ADVT 
National

Ottawa says U.S. move to tighten border rules for asylum seekers in line with law

Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 16 Aug, 2024 09:56 AM
  • Ottawa says U.S. move to tighten border rules for asylum seekers in line with law

The federal government says procedural changes planned by the United States to tighten rules for asylum seekers coming from Canada are in line with the Safe Third Country Agreement.

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada spokesperson Matthew Krupovich said the changes "do not impact the terms of the (agreement) nor the criteria for an exemption or exception under the agreement."

"We are in regular contact with the U.S. on a range of issues and continue to work with them on this and other areas of border co-operation," Krupovich said in an emailed statement.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security confirmed Tuesday that it reviewed the Safe Third Country Agreement with Canada and concluded that it could streamline the process without affecting access to fair procedures for determining a claim to asylum.

Under that agreement, which came into effect in 2004, refugee claimants must seek asylum in the first of the two countries they arrive in.

The procedural change means people entering the U.S. from Canada and making an asylum claim there will now have four hours to consult with lawyers instead of 24 hours.

The change also means border officers will only consider the documentary evidence that asylum claimants have with them when they arrive. Previously people could ask for time to gather evidence.

Jamie Chai Yun Liew, a law professor at the University of Ottawa, said the Canadian government’s response is disappointing.

"This clearly says to me that they are prioritizing efficient processing at the border over humanitarian concerns and commitments to international refugee law," Liew said in an email.

She was part of a legal team that intervened when the agreement was challenged before the Supreme Court of Canada. The court ruled last year that the pact with the U.S. is constitutional.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and President Joe Biden updated the Safe Third Country Agreement around the same time to close a loophole that allowed people who skirted official border crossings to make a claim.

That led to a dramatic drop in people crossing into Canada from the U.S. at unofficial border crossings, but the number of people travelling in the opposite direction has started to increase.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection data shows agents arrested more than 12,000 people along the border with Canada in the first six months of 2024 — already more arrests than were made in all of 2023.

The number of migrants crossing between Canada and the United States is much smaller than at the U.S.-Mexico border. But the new rules at the Canada-U. S. border mirror time-constraint changes that were brought to America’s southern border earlier this year.

Biden made sweeping changes around the border with Mexico in June. Migration is an issue both parties are keen to target ahead of the November election.

MORE National ARTICLES

Food service workers walk off the job at Vancouver airport for 'one-day strike'

Food service workers walk off the job at Vancouver airport for 'one-day strike'
The union representing food service workers at Vancouver International Airport says more than 200 have walked off the job to push for higher wages. A statement from Unite Here Local 40 says the workers are employed by SSP America, which operates more than a dozen food outlets at the airport.

Food service workers walk off the job at Vancouver airport for 'one-day strike'

Head-on crash kills two, shuts highway, blocks ferry terminal in West Vancouver, B.C.

Head-on crash kills two, shuts highway, blocks ferry terminal in West Vancouver, B.C.
Police in West Vancouver say two people are dead after a head-on crash along Highway 1 that blocked access to the Horseshoe Bay ferry terminal. They say a vehicle travelling east in the westbound lanes near Westport Road caused the collision at about 11:40 p.m. Wednesday night.

Head-on crash kills two, shuts highway, blocks ferry terminal in West Vancouver, B.C.

2 vehicle crash in Richmond

2 vehicle crash in Richmond
Mounties in Richmond say they're investigating a two-vehicle crash that injured two pedestrians. They say it happened on Sunday when a Ford Edge S-U-V turned into a Toyota Tundra on Number 4 Road, then careened onto the sidewalk where three people were standing. 

2 vehicle crash in Richmond

Lawyers looking for thousands of families owed money by Veterans Affairs

Lawyers looking for thousands of families owed money by Veterans Affairs
Lawyers are trying to get in touch with hundreds of thousands of people who are owed money through a class-action lawsuit against Veterans Affairs. The suit was launched after the Office of the Veterans Ombud found the government had been improperly calculating the disability benefits and pensions of its clients starting in 2003.

Lawyers looking for thousands of families owed money by Veterans Affairs

Eleven-year-old boy drowns after inflated tube flips in B.C. lake

Eleven-year-old boy drowns after inflated tube flips in B.C. lake
RCMP say an 11-year-old boy has drowned in Wasa Lake, north of Cranbrook in southeastern B.C. Police say the boy was out with two other children on Sunday on an inflated tube when it flipped in high winds and rough water. 

Eleven-year-old boy drowns after inflated tube flips in B.C. lake

'Big bang': Explosion destroys Winnipeg home and damages others, no injuries reported

'Big bang': Explosion destroys Winnipeg home and damages others, no injuries reported
An explosion Wednesday reduced a Winnipeg house to rubble and significantly damaged nearby homes. Emergency crews were called to the bungalow on Camrose Bay in the Transcona neighbourhood shortly after 11 a.m.

'Big bang': Explosion destroys Winnipeg home and damages others, no injuries reported