(CNN) — The United States began transporting migrants crossing from Canada to the US to Texas for processing and, as the case may be, deporting them to Mexico or their country of origin under a border restriction instituted by covid-19, according to an official of National Security.
The US Border Patrol recently recorded a record number of migrant crossings in the northern region, prompting the agency to send additional authorities to the area to help.
Swanton Sector, which covers more than 25,000 square miles along the US-Canada border, is understaffed than sectors along the southern US border and is under pressure from increased of border crossings.
“Swanton Sector Agents are reporting elevated levels of illegal entries from Canada. In just over 5 months, we have apprehended more people than in the last 3 fiscal years combined,” Swanton Sector Chief Patrol Agent Robert N. Garcia said in a tweet, calling it “unprecedented.”
From October to February, Swanton Sector agents encountered nearly 2,000 migrants, according to data from the US Customs and Border Protection. Though higher than in years past, agents along the southern border from the US encounter just under 5,000 migrants in one day.
US and Canada reach agreement on decades-old asylum treaty
President Joe Biden. Stock image. (Credit: Hector Vivas/Getty Images)
The United States and Canada have reached an agreement on changes to a decades-old asylum treaty that would restrict certain immigrants from seeking protection in Canada, two Canadian officials told CNN, marking a significant change in the way the country accepts to asylum seekers.
While discussions have been ongoing for years, the sharp increase in people crossing into Canada from the US, some of whom are believed to have originally crossed the southern US border, recently added urgency to the talks. .
US President Joe Biden and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau are expected to announce the amendments to the agreement before Biden conclude your visit and travel back to the US.according to a Canadian official.
Before Biden’s visit to Canada, Trudeau faced a nationwide setback from hundreds of immigrants who crossed Roxham Road, a remote street that connects Champlain, New York, with Hemmingford, Quebec.
This aerial view shows migrants from Venezuela, Nigeria, Haiti and other countries arriving at the Roxham Road border crossing in Roxham, Quebec, on March 3, 2023. Credit: Sebastien St-Jean/AFP/Getty Images
The so-called Safe Third Country Agreement, signed in 2002, applies to people who have transited through a country where they could have applied for asylum because it is considered safe, as the name of the agreement implies. It is in effect at ports of entry, and persons entering a land port of entry may not be eligible to file a claim and be returned to the US.
But Roxham Road is not an official crossing, which means that people transiting there could still seek protection in Canada, even if they have passed through the US. Crossings between ports of entry were not initially included in the agreement due to the limitations on sharing information, experts say, prompting Canada to try to close that loophole now that those limitations have been eased.
Trudeau told CNN’s Paula Newton on Thursday that “great work is being done,” but added that “hopefully we can make an announcement to reassure Canadians and Americans that we continue to take migration seriously,” in a statement. apparent nod to the deal.
Justin Trudeau. Crédito: Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press via AP
“Canada is always willing to do more,” Trudeau told Newton, when asked if such an announcement would include taking some immigrants directly from the United States. “We are a country that has been built by the United States and we have received people from all over the world. We just need to make sure that we are doing it responsibly and properly so that our citizens remain positive towards immigration as Canadians always are,” he added.
