In recent months, the number of refugee applicants arriving at the border crossing point in Saint-Bernard-de-Lacolle, Quebec, from the northern part of New York state has dramatically decreased.
This border crossing point is the busiest land route for refugee applicants in Canada. Shortly after President Trump took office earlier this year, the number of asylum seekers coming here began to soar. From March to August, the average monthly refugee applications at this crossing point exceeded 1,900, an increase of 184% compared to the previous year.
Now, this wave has subsided. Data obtained by Bloomberg shows that in November, only 518 people applied for asylum at this location, compared to 637 people a year ago, marking the first year-on-year decline since February.
Southern Quebec is located about a five-hour drive north of New York City. Over the years, many have exploited a loophole in the Canada-U.S. refugee cooperation agreement, the Safe Third Country Agreement (STCA), to cross forests and farmland on foot to enter the region.
Montreal is particularly attractive to Haitian refugees as the region is predominantly French-speaking, and there is already a large Haitian diaspora there.
Lawyers and refugee rights advocates say that border officials are now enforcing existing regulations more strictly, increasing the risks for those seeking asylum in Canada. If their applications are rejected, they could quickly be sent back to the United States and detained by ICE.
Audrey Macklin, a human rights law professor at the University of Toronto and former member of Canada’s Immigration and Refugee Board, said, “The rules may not have changed on paper, but the execution has changed.”
In 2023, the STCA policy began to tighten gradually to deter people from attempting illegal border crossings.
According to statistics from the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA), in the first 11 months of this year, Canada returned 4,035 refugee claimants who did not meet the agreement criteria to the U.S., a 29% increase compared to the same period in 2024. About two-thirds of these individuals entered Canada through legal border entry points.
Prime Minister Mark Carney is continuing a series of decisions made in the later part of Justin Trudeau’s administration to further tighten immigration policies, stating the need to “get a handle” on the STCA system.
Some experts say that the numbers suggest that exploiting the loopholes in the STCA is becoming increasingly difficult.
For example, the STCA stipulates that refugees must apply for asylum in the first safe country they arrive in, either the U.S. or Canada, but exceptions can be made for individuals with close family in Canada, minors, and those with specific travel documents.
Montreal immigration lawyer Stephanie Valois said she now rarely sees people attempting to cross the border, unless they believe they clearly qualify for the family exemption under the STCA.
She said, “They are now much stricter in monitoring the border. There are very few, if any, incidents of people crossing by land, and even in exceptional cases, there is very rigorous scrutiny.” Previously, officials relied more on testimony and interviews, but now they focus more on documentary evidence, which refugees find difficult or impossible to obtain.
She added that even individuals with family ties in Canada face significant risks upon entry, “It’s very dangerous… if you fail, you may get into trouble, and you could even be arrested.”
She described a recent case where a client was detained after being returned to the U.S., despite having relatives in Canada. Border officials did not accept his evidence because of “government agencies’ management being chaotic, birth certificates for people from Haiti or Yemen are often not original, the ways the numbers are written vary, and even the spelling of the mother’s name differs.”
There have been cases where even married couples with marriage certificates had their applications denied because officials questioned the authenticity of their relationship.
CBSA spokesperson Luke Reimer told Bloomberg in an email that border officials were not instructed to change their standards or take stricter measures. As before, when someone applies for asylum on the basis of having family ties in Canada, “officials must be satisfied that the family relationship is very likely to exist and that the relevant family members have the necessary status.”
Each application is assessed individually.
Isabelle Dubois, a spokesperson for the Immigration Department of Canada, said the government is enhancing the review of temporary resident visa applications to weed out visitors who “conceal their true purpose.”
The Canadian government also imposed partial visa requirements on Mexican nationals in early 2024, reducing the number of asylum applications made at airports.
Dubois stated, “The Canadian government supports a fair, rigorous immigration process to protect Canadians and the integrity of our system while upholding our international obligations to those in need of protection.”
However, lawyers representing asylum seekers argue that in reality, the regulations and attitudes of Canadians towards asylum seekers are becoming more hardened.
Mario Bellissimo, a Toronto immigration lawyer, said, “The actual information for asylum seekers is crystal clear: the likelihood of being found ineligible and returned to the U.S. has increased, and the consequences of being sent back are severe, facing sanctions from U.S. immigration enforcement.”
(This article was referenced from Bloomberg)