Migrants Fleeing to Canada Learn Even a Liberal Nation Has Limits
- 6 years ago
Migrants Fleeing to Canada Learn Even a Liberal Nation Has Limits
Ms. Beauville was one of a surge of thousands of Haitian migrants who crossed over the border from the United States to Quebec last summer, spurred by a May announcement by the Trump administration
that Haitians could lose their temporary protected status in the United States, granted after the 2010 earthquake that devastated their country.
On an earlier trip there, he sought to counter false media reports in the Latin American press
that he said were suggesting that migrants could travel to Canada, "walk in and stay forever." Earlier this summer, the government also sent Emmanuel Dubourg, a Liberal Haitian-Canadian member of Parliament from Montreal, to Miami’s "Little Haiti" to spread the word that getting asylum in Canada was difficult.
Haiti said that I won’t — I can’t — go back to Haiti,
Many of those who travel to Canada avoid the official border, so they can circumvent the Safe Third Party Agreement between Canada
and the United States, which requires asylum seekers to apply for refuge in the country where they first arrived.
In August, the number of asylum seekers who illegally crossed the United States border into Quebec swelled
to 5,530, a majority of them Haitians, according to Canadian government data published that month.
That loophole has created a political headache for the government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, prompting criticism
that it is encouraging illegal immigration, even as refugee advocates warn that Haitian migrants could face poverty, violence or worse if they are sent back to Haiti.
Mr. Hussen emphasized that Canada was obliged to honor its international commitments under the 1951 United Nations refugee convention, which makes clear
that asylum claims should be considered even if those applying use irregular means to enter a country because refugees are, by definition, fleeing persecution.
Ms. Beauville was one of a surge of thousands of Haitian migrants who crossed over the border from the United States to Quebec last summer, spurred by a May announcement by the Trump administration
that Haitians could lose their temporary protected status in the United States, granted after the 2010 earthquake that devastated their country.
On an earlier trip there, he sought to counter false media reports in the Latin American press
that he said were suggesting that migrants could travel to Canada, "walk in and stay forever." Earlier this summer, the government also sent Emmanuel Dubourg, a Liberal Haitian-Canadian member of Parliament from Montreal, to Miami’s "Little Haiti" to spread the word that getting asylum in Canada was difficult.
Haiti said that I won’t — I can’t — go back to Haiti,
Many of those who travel to Canada avoid the official border, so they can circumvent the Safe Third Party Agreement between Canada
and the United States, which requires asylum seekers to apply for refuge in the country where they first arrived.
In August, the number of asylum seekers who illegally crossed the United States border into Quebec swelled
to 5,530, a majority of them Haitians, according to Canadian government data published that month.
That loophole has created a political headache for the government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, prompting criticism
that it is encouraging illegal immigration, even as refugee advocates warn that Haitian migrants could face poverty, violence or worse if they are sent back to Haiti.
Mr. Hussen emphasized that Canada was obliged to honor its international commitments under the 1951 United Nations refugee convention, which makes clear
that asylum claims should be considered even if those applying use irregular means to enter a country because refugees are, by definition, fleeing persecution.