Canada’s Minister for Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Sean Fraser on Monday gave few details on the program, which will allow the reception of 15,000 migrants, as agreed under the renegotiation of the Safe Third Countries Agreement. Under the new parameters of the deal, which came into force on March 25, migrants can no longer apply for asylum between border crossings.

The federal minister says he is still in the process of developing guidelines for taking in the 15,000 migrants. However, “I am thinking of the situation in Haiti because of the location of the country and the relationship between the Haitian people and Canada.” Since 1^um At least 530 people were killed in armed clashes between gangs and police in the country in January, according to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Ottawa has said the 15,000 migrants it admits each year will come from “the western hemisphere,” but Minister Fraser on Monday gave no details on which countries would be included in the scheme. “We’ll see if we target only people in the hemisphere or those who have been there,” he said at a news conference. After Haitians, Turks and Colombians were the most likely to seek asylum on Roxham Road in 2022.

It is not yet known when the details of the hosting program will be announced or what the criteria for qualification will be. But Minister Fraser said he hopes to be able to accommodate the 15,000 migrants over the next 12 months.

9000 km border monitor

The federal government also hasn’t specified how it intends to monitor the entire 5,500-mile (8,900 km) Canada-US border. Liberals have argued for years that bridging the gap that allows illegal passage of migrants between border crossings is difficult. The Safe Third Countries Agreement stipulates that a migrant must apply for asylum in the first country they enter.

This was announced by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, which patrols the border Duty that “if necessary, resources could be redeployed from other sectors in the short term to meet operational needs”. However, the federal police did not provide any further information “for operational reasons”.

For his part, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau seemed to indicate that these staff have not yet been reassigned, three days after Prime Minister and US President Joe Biden announced an “additional protocol” to the cross-border agreement, henceforth irregular intersections such as Roxham Road in Montérégie impede.

“We will continue to consider what is necessary to ensure the security of our borders. And most importantly, to show that we have an immigration system that works for Canadians,” Mr Trudeau said upon his arrival in the House of Commons on Monday.

The Border Services Agency has been busy this weekend putting up new signs, particularly on Roxham Road, warning that entering Canada is “illegal here” and that any migrant could be sent back to the United States.

On Saturday and Sunday, nine asylum seekers were intercepted and returned to the United States along the Canada-US border, while seven others deemed their cases admissible, giving them the right to pursue their asylum claims. in Canada, according to the Canadian Border Protection Agency. Secretary Fraser believes the new agreement will reduce the number of people crossing the Americas to get to Canada.

The government did not say how many people were intercepted in total this weekend when they tried to enter Canada irregularly. During 2022, just over 39,500 people attempted to enter Canada, almost all of them in Quebec (nearly 39,200).

This story is supported by the Local Journalism Initiative, which is funded by the Canadian government.

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