Why are people crossing the border irregularly? |
Pourquoi ? -- en français |
Sign at the Roxham Road border
You may be wondering why people are choosing to enter Canada through Roxham Road, rather than an official port of entry. There are three drivers for people choosing to cross into Canada via Roxham Road: 1. the Safe Third Country Agreement (STCA) with the United States; 2. the alarming deterioration of the asylum system in the US; 3. the unprecedented forced displacement of peoples around the world (see our Who page for more details about the people crossing at Roxham).
1. The STCA
This Agreement came into force at the end of 2004 and means that, if someone crosses into Canada from the USA at an official border crossing and asks for asylum, they will be sent back to the USA, unless they fall under one of four exceptions to the Agreement (e.g. having a family member here). This is based on the premise that both countries are safe for asylum seekers and respect human rights law. However, if they cross the border at an irregular crossing such as Roxham Road, the Agreement does not apply and they can make a claim for refugee status. That is why many people are choosing that route, so as to not risk being sent back to the USA and thus being unable to make a refugee claim in Canada in the future: there’s only one chance.
2. The US Asylum System
Can the USA really be considered to be a safe country for refugees? The Canadian Council for Refugees, the Canadian Council of Churches and Amnesty International (and many other organizations and legal professionals) don’t think so and have launched a second legal challenge to the STCA (see PDF file below: Briefing document).
Substantial criticisms of the US system date back to the time of STCA negotiations. A few examples of these are found in the BOX.
1. The STCA
This Agreement came into force at the end of 2004 and means that, if someone crosses into Canada from the USA at an official border crossing and asks for asylum, they will be sent back to the USA, unless they fall under one of four exceptions to the Agreement (e.g. having a family member here). This is based on the premise that both countries are safe for asylum seekers and respect human rights law. However, if they cross the border at an irregular crossing such as Roxham Road, the Agreement does not apply and they can make a claim for refugee status. That is why many people are choosing that route, so as to not risk being sent back to the USA and thus being unable to make a refugee claim in Canada in the future: there’s only one chance.
2. The US Asylum System
Can the USA really be considered to be a safe country for refugees? The Canadian Council for Refugees, the Canadian Council of Churches and Amnesty International (and many other organizations and legal professionals) don’t think so and have launched a second legal challenge to the STCA (see PDF file below: Briefing document).
Substantial criticisms of the US system date back to the time of STCA negotiations. A few examples of these are found in the BOX.
Some long-standing criticisms of the US asylum system
- the one-year bar on making a refugee claim – this leaves many legitimate refugees in limbo. Unable to return home or apply for asylum, they are likely to become undocumented.
- Arbitrary, punitive use of detention;
- Degrading immigration detention conditions – prison-like settings, negligent medical attention, widespread sexual abuse, use of solitary confinement;
- The expedited removal process sending people back to homelands without proper safeguards;
- Lack of access to legal representation in detention;
- ‘Asylum free’ jurisdictions where as few as only 2% of applicants are recognized as refugees.
Under the Trump presidency things have gotten much worse. Many irregular asylum seekers had previously been living in the US and became afraid they would be deported back to danger in unsafe homelands. Trump himself has publicly stated that ‘’The asylum system is a scam.”, has mocked asylum seekers at the southern border, and made overtly racist, xenophobic comments about migrants. The problematic policies are too numerous to mention them all, but a few important ones include:
Trump Administration Changes to the Asylum System
- Trump’s executive orders allowed for increased widespread arrest and deportation of undocumented people in the USA. People needing protection can be sent back to their countries of origin where their lives may be at risk.
- The forced separation of at least 5,500 children from their asylum-seeking parents from July 2017 to October 2019. The incarceration of many children in cages – some nursing babies - without adult carers or proper hygiene or even mattresses. Many children are lost in the system having been sent to foster care across the US without proper administrative tracking.
- Denying women and girls fleeing domestic violence and gang rape of the right to seek asylum in the US, as had previously been possible. Thousands of women flee Central America for these very reasons.
- The ‘Remain in Mexico’ policy stops asylum seekers at the southern border entering the US. While awaiting a decision on their asylum claim, they are forced to stay in dangerous border towns where violence and kidnapping are endemic.
Clearly the US is not a safe place for those seeking refuge. We believe the STCA should be revoked, so that everyone seeking asylum could enter Canada safely and with dignity at an official border crossing. During winter many people have suffered hypothermia and frostbite during irregular crossings into Canada at unsafe places and have lost fingers and toes. Tragically, in spring 2017, a woman from Ghana, Mavis Otuteye, died while trying to cross into Manitoba.
3. Historic Levels of Forced Displacement
Never before have so many people been forced to leave their homes, either to seek safety in another part of their country or go to another country: the number now stands at nearly 71 million up from 43 million in 2009. That’s one out of every 108 people in the world. 37,000 people a day are newly displaced. Why? Because of unending wars and conflicts, genocide, violence against individuals and groups because of their identities be it race, tribe, religion, political views, sexual orientation or gender to name a few. Climate change is a growing cause of displacement (see the Who page for more details).
Given the STCA, many asylum seekers resident in the US are in a ‘catch 22’ situation: it’s not safe for them to stay in the USA and it’s not safe for them to enter Canada officially. The longer the STCA stands, the more complicit Canada becomes with conditions in the USA that are contrary to our duty of protection towards people seeking refuge here when, because of this Agreement, they are sent back to the US to a potentially dangerous future.
Some nationalities, unable to get a visa to Canada, are traveling to the US before coming here to seek refuge. There is no such thing as an ‘asylum seeker visa’ anywhere in the world, and there are many good reasons (like family reunion) why people seek asylum here rather than in neighboring countries where conditions can be terrible. Hundreds of thousands of people get stuck in refugee camps, sometimes for decades, waiting to go home.
As a country we cannot remain untouched by this global reality of unprecedented forced displacement. We need to find ways to engage with it with strength, wisdom and compassion.
Never before have so many people been forced to leave their homes, either to seek safety in another part of their country or go to another country: the number now stands at nearly 71 million up from 43 million in 2009. That’s one out of every 108 people in the world. 37,000 people a day are newly displaced. Why? Because of unending wars and conflicts, genocide, violence against individuals and groups because of their identities be it race, tribe, religion, political views, sexual orientation or gender to name a few. Climate change is a growing cause of displacement (see the Who page for more details).
Given the STCA, many asylum seekers resident in the US are in a ‘catch 22’ situation: it’s not safe for them to stay in the USA and it’s not safe for them to enter Canada officially. The longer the STCA stands, the more complicit Canada becomes with conditions in the USA that are contrary to our duty of protection towards people seeking refuge here when, because of this Agreement, they are sent back to the US to a potentially dangerous future.
Some nationalities, unable to get a visa to Canada, are traveling to the US before coming here to seek refuge. There is no such thing as an ‘asylum seeker visa’ anywhere in the world, and there are many good reasons (like family reunion) why people seek asylum here rather than in neighboring countries where conditions can be terrible. Hundreds of thousands of people get stuck in refugee camps, sometimes for decades, waiting to go home.
As a country we cannot remain untouched by this global reality of unprecedented forced displacement. We need to find ways to engage with it with strength, wisdom and compassion.
| guardian_haiti.pdf |
| stca_legal_challenge.pdf |
| bridges_not_borders_briefing_on_stca_english.pdf |