Canada to turn back asylum seekers to stop spread of COVID-19

by dpa (TNS)
| March 20, 2020 6:14 PM

MONTREAL — Canada will turn back irregular migrants trying to cross the land border with the United States as part of a wider border shutdown amid the coronavirus pandemic, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Friday.

They will not be allowed to seek asylum in the country, he added.

“Canada and the United States are announcing a reciprocal arrangement that we will now be returning irregular migrants that attempt to cross anywhere at the Canada-U.S. border,” Trudeau told reporters at a news conference outside his home in Ottawa.

Asylum seekers were already barred from entering Canada at official border points under the Safe Third Country Agreement with the U.S.

But since 2017 more than 54,000 migrants fleeing the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown had made their way to Canada to take advantage of a legal loophole that allowed them to claim asylum if they entered the country outside an official crossing point.

Even as the COVID-19 pandemic spread in Canada and the U.S., prompting both neighbors to shut the 8,891-kilometer (5,524 mile) border to “all non-essential” travel as of Saturday, migrants had continued to arrive by foot at Roxham Road on the border between New York state and the French-speaking province of Quebec.

“I want to also be very clear: we are taking this measure to maintain safety and order at our border and at the same time these measures will only be in place temporarily, as long as the agreement of the restriction on non-essential (travel) remains in place,” Public Safety Minister Bill Blair said.

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