{"id":64547,"date":"2018-05-01T11:47:31","date_gmt":"2018-05-01T11:47:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/?p=64547"},"modified":"2018-05-01T11:47:31","modified_gmt":"2018-05-01T11:47:31","slug":"canada-wants-u-s-cooperation-turning-back-asylum-seekers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/politics\/canada-wants-u-s-cooperation-turning-back-asylum-seekers.html","title":{"rendered":"Canada wants U.S. cooperation in turning back asylum seekers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Canada wants U.S. cooperation in turning back asylum seekers<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n

Under the Safe Third Country Agreement, or STCA, asylum seekers who arrive at a formal Canada-U.S. border crossing going in either direction are turned back and told to apply for asylum in the first country they arrived in.<\/span><\/p>\n

Canada wants the agreement rewritten to apply to the entire border.<\/span><\/p>\n

More than 26,000 people have illegally crossed the Canada-U.S. border to file refugee claims in the past 15 months, walking over ditches and on empty roads along the world\u2019s longest undefended border. Many have told Reuters they might have stayed in the United States were it not for President Donald Trump\u2019s immigration rhetoric and policies.<\/span><\/p>\n

Canadian officials first discussed changing the pact with U.S. Department of Homeland Security officials last September, shortly after more than 5,700 asylum seekers walked into Canada in August.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019d like to be able to get them to agree that we can, if somebody comes across, we just send them back,\u201d the official told Reuters on Friday, adding Canada had raised the issue \u201cat least a dozen\u201d times since.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI wouldn\u2019t say they\u2019ve been objecting or saying: \u2018No, we won\u2019t do it,\u2019 but it\u2019s been not responding rapidly.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The Department of Homeland Security is reviewing Canada\u2019s proposal and has not yet made a decision, a spokeswoman said.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Canadian official compared Canada\u2019s position to U.S. requests that Mexico prevent migrants traversing its territory from entering the United States<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got a problem, here. We\u2019ve got to fix it,\u201d the official added. \u201cAnd we need the Americans\u2019 cooperation.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

For now, another official said, Canada would keep doing what it is doing: Managing the influx of refugee claimants in a strained system, while seeking to dissuade would-be crossers through outreach efforts.<\/span><\/p>\n

Even if the United States agreed to take back anyone trying to cross into Canada, keeping people out between all ports of entry would be a challenge and could result in asylum seekers taking potentially deadly risks to avoid detection, said University of Toronto law and human rights professor Audrey Macklin.<\/span><\/p>\n

The STCA already faces a Canadian court challenge that argues the agreement is discriminatory and violates Canada\u2019s Charter of Rights and Freedoms.<\/span><\/p>\n

Canada has also urged U.S. officials to crack down on visas, saying many of the asylum seekers had valid U.S. visas and used the United States merely as a transit point.<\/span><\/p>\n

Earlier this year, Canadian officials traveled to Nigeria, the source of a significant number of asylum seekers, to speak with Nigerian government officials and U.S. embassy staff.<\/span><\/p>\n

The number of U.S. visas being issued to Nigerians has since dropped, said Mathieu Genest, a spokesman for Canadian Immigration and Refugee Minister Ahmed Hussen.<\/span><\/p>\n

Source:-https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/article\/us-arizona-education\/schools-in-arizona-and-colorado-set-to-stay-closed-due-to-teacher-strike-idUSKBN1I11MJ<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t <\/div><\/div>\n\t\t