The United States and Canada have reached an agreement on illegal immigration between the two countries.
In exchange for allowing Canada to return to the United States those who enter through its unofficial border, Canada has decided to officially accept some immigrants.
According to the New York Times and others, the two countries agreed to close the Roxham Road, an unofficial border passage between New York and Quebec, Canada, and allow Canada to accept 15,000 additional immigrants by next year.
Immigration to Canada from the United States surged in 2017 as the Donald Trump administration tightened its crackdown on illegal immigrants.
Last year, more than 39,000 immigrants from the United States entered Canada through unofficial borders, including the Roxham Road, a dirt road between New York and Quebec. Compared to 2017, it has doubled.
As the number of informal immigrants increased, this issue also emerged as a major issue between the two countries.
The agreement came as President Joe Biden visited Canada for the first time after taking office. According to this agreement, the two countries plan to revise the “Safe Third Country Agreement” (STCA). The agreement, which came into effect at the end of 2004, allows those who have left their country to seek asylum in the first safe country they arrive at.
If someone wants to enter Canada from Central and South America via the United States, they must apply in the United States before entering Canada, so they can be sent back. So far, the agreement only covered official borders, and at unofficial borders like Roxham Road, Canada couldn’t apply to return migrants coming through the United States.
“The new agreement will extend across the entire border, and asylum seekers who have entered informally will be returned,” Reuters news agency said. Instead, Canada has decided to accept 15,000 immigrants who are trying to escape violence, persecution, or economic hardship from Central and South America to enter Canada via the United States on a humanitarian basis.