By CatholicVote | Created at 2024-12-18 00:01:19 | Updated at 2024-12-18 17:58:18
17 hours ago
CV NEWS FEED // Securing the U.S.-Canada border has become an increasing challenge in recent years, as both countries struggle to gauge the amount of control needed to monitor illegal migration across the world’s longest land border.
Reuters reported that the numbers of migrants going to or from the U.S. has steadily risen since 2021, peaking in July 2024 when more than 3,500 migrants were apprehended by the U.S. in that month alone. The Canadian border patrol, however, only intercepted roughly 60 migrants that month.
Canada has good reason to start focusing on migration. Reuters reported that president-elect Donald Trump has threatened to impose 25% tariffs on both Mexico and Canada if they do not control immigration and drug trafficking into the U.S. Additionally, Canada has recently seen a slight uptick in northbound migrants and is expecting more once Trump takes office, due to his previous threats of mass deportations.
Ottawa reportedly promised in November to begin increasing border personnel and technology to combat U.S.-bound migrants. As things currently stand on the border, Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers watch for crossings on the border, receive tips from the public or U.S. authorities, and monitor suspicious activity. Some migration experts support the possibility of increased measures on the border, while others say they only “put [migrants] at greater risk,” Reuters reported.
“There’s a lot of talk around whether or not we would enhance technological capacity at the border. There’s a lot of talk around increased patrolling. But all of that so far, I think, serves first and foremost to show that we’re taking seriously the border,” Lama Mourad, an assistant professor at the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs at Carleton University, told Reuters.
However, Action Réfugiés Montréal executive director Carlos Rojas Salazar said that implementing extra restrictions is only “pushing people to risk it.”
Not all southbound migrants are Canadian. Many enter Canada from other countries and head to the U.S. border, some after having obtained Canadian visas, and some without them. Canada has recently begun “refusing more visas and turning away visa-holders at ports of entry” to combat rising numbers of those non-Canadian U.S.-bound migrants,” Reuters reported.
The news outlet added that Canada’s Immigration Minister Marc Miller told the Canadian Council for Refugees in a private meeting that “it isn’t right that people should be able to get a visa under certain conditions, come here, claim asylum, or not, and then migrate in large amounts into the U.S. border, into the U.S.”
