Refugees: Myths and Facts #1
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Myth #1: People should seek asylum in Canada at a regular Port of Entry, not by Roxham Road
The Canadian Government tells people they must seek asylum through the ‘proper channels,’ but because of the Safe Third Country Agreement (STCA), asylum seekers who apply at Ports of Entry will be returned to the US unless they meet one of four exceptions. Because of the STCA rules, 550 people were returned to the USA during a five-month period in 2017.[i] They are handed over to ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement), placed in detention and may be unable to claim asylum.[ii] Separated from their families, in prison-like conditions, some detainees are even subject to solitary confinement. Sexual abuse is widespread in detention and rarely investigated[iii] and medical care is often negligent.[iv] There is no legal aid for non-citizens and only 14% of detained people get access to a lawyer. [v] Without a lawyer chances of a successful asylum claim are slim and people with lawyers are 10 times more likely to succeed.[vi] Therefore, asylum seekers are at risk of being returned to a home country where their lives and liberty are threatened. This is not hypothetical. A 2015 study revealed that 83 asylum seekers sent back to El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras during 21-month period were killed after their return. [vii] Because of the STCA, the only secure channel for seeking asylum at the Canadian border is to cross irregularly.
The Canadian Government tells people they must seek asylum through the ‘proper channels,’ but because of the Safe Third Country Agreement (STCA), asylum seekers who apply at Ports of Entry will be returned to the US unless they meet one of four exceptions. Because of the STCA rules, 550 people were returned to the USA during a five-month period in 2017.[i] They are handed over to ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement), placed in detention and may be unable to claim asylum.[ii] Separated from their families, in prison-like conditions, some detainees are even subject to solitary confinement. Sexual abuse is widespread in detention and rarely investigated[iii] and medical care is often negligent.[iv] There is no legal aid for non-citizens and only 14% of detained people get access to a lawyer. [v] Without a lawyer chances of a successful asylum claim are slim and people with lawyers are 10 times more likely to succeed.[vi] Therefore, asylum seekers are at risk of being returned to a home country where their lives and liberty are threatened. This is not hypothetical. A 2015 study revealed that 83 asylum seekers sent back to El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras during 21-month period were killed after their return. [vii] Because of the STCA, the only secure channel for seeking asylum at the Canadian border is to cross irregularly.
[i] Access to Information Act request made by the David Asper Centre for Constitutional Right. Response from Canadian Border Services Agency (21-09-2017). We do not have access to statistics for the complete 2017 year.
[ii] Due for example to the One Year Bar which prevents people who have been in the USA more than a year to make an asylum claim, or due to inadequate implementation of procedures around a Credible claim interview, which exclude people with valid claims to protection.
[iii] Between January 2010 and July 2016, the Dep’t of Homeland Security received 33,126 complaints of sexual and physical abuse against its component agencies but only opened investigations into 247 of them (i.e. only .07 per cent). Community Initiatives for Visiting Immigrants in Confinement, Letter to Thomas Horman, Director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement et al Re: Sexual Abuse, Assault, and Harassment in U.S. Immigration Detention Facilities, 11 April 2017.
http://www.endisolation.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/CIVIC_SexualAssault_Complaint.pdf
[iv] “Fatal Neglect: How ICE Ignores Deaths in Detention”, American Civil Liberties Union, the Detention Watch Network & the National Immigrant Justice Center, February 2016
https://www.aclu.org/report/fatal-neglect-how-ice-ignores-death-detention
[v] “A National Study of Access to Counsel in Immigration Court”, (2015) 164 University of Penn L R 1, page 32. Ingrid Eagly and Steven Shafer.
scholarship.law.upenn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=9502&context=penn_law_review
[vi] "Due Process Denied: Central Americans Seeking Asylum and Legal Protection in the United States" (16 June 2016), page 15. American Immigration Lawyers Association
www.aila.org/infonet/report-due-process-denied
[vii] "Relief Not Raids". Immigrant Legal Resources Centre, January 2016, p.6.
www.ilrc.org/sites/default/files/resources/01-13-2016_relief_not_raids_-_immigrant_legal_resource_center.pdf
See also: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/oct/12/obama-immigration-deportations-central-america