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Amid predictions of a new influx of migration into Canada following Donald Trump’s election victory, a group advocating for migrants is warning against “anti-migrant hysteria.”
Expectations of a coming wave of migrants are exaggerated, according to a press release from the Migrants Rights Network, a Canadian organization.
In the months leading up to and days since the U.S. election, experts and the RCMP have warned of increased illegal border crossings under a Trump administration.
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Predictions have drawn comparisons to the Roxham Rd. border crisis, in which migrants came to the unofficial crossing to circumvent the Safe Third Country Agreement and claim asylum in Canada. Changes to that agreement in 2023 extended a prohibition on asylum claims at U.S.-Canada crossings from official points of entry to the entire length of the border.
Still, the RCMP continues to apprehend people attempting irregular crossings, often near Quebec’s stretch of the border, though the vast majority are attempting to head south into the United States.
The Migrants Rights Network alluded to that statistic, pointing out the eight people who died in April 2023 trying to cross the St. Lawrence River were heading to the United States from Canada.
“The media is whipping up anti-migrant racism by fear mongering over a fabricated border crisis, while the real crisis is anti-migrant policies implemented by the Trudeau government here at home,” wrote spokesperson Syed Hussan.
The statement cited many undocumented immigrants’ established roots in the United States as a reason the group predicts few will attempt crossings into Canada. It said gaining refugee status in Canada is difficult and blamed Canadian policies preventing some migrants from flying directly into the country for increased border crossings during the Roxham Rd. crisis.
Hussan criticized impulses to send more RCMP agents to the border, instead calling for better funding of refugee and migrant organizations, social services and easier paths to migration.
“We call on the federal government to uphold the rights and protection of asylum seekers and to abolish the Safe Third Country Agreement,” he said.
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