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Articles on Asylum-seekers

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Migrants on the Mexican side of the border wait for nightfall before attempting to cross into the United States from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico a day after dozens of migrants died in a fire at a migrant detention centre in the city. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)

Tragedies, not accidents: Tougher Canadian and U.S. border policies will cost more lives

Here’s why the newly amended Safe Third Country Agreement will inevitably lead to more deaths for migrants in hazardous conditions in both official and non-official migration pathways.
RCMP officers approach a woman as she enters Canada via Roxham Road near Hemmingford, Que., on March 25, 2023. Asylum-seekers at the unofficial crossing will now be turned away following amendments to the Safe Third Country Agreement between Canada and the U.S. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes

3 ways Ottawa can rebuild trust following changes to the Safe Third Country Agreement

The renegotiated Safe Third Country Agreement was politically expedient for Justin Trudeau’s government, but poses real policy and programming challenges.
Home Secretary Suella Braverman and Rwandan minister for foreign affairs, Vincent Biruta, sign an enhanced partnership deal in Kigali, during her visit to Rwanda in March 2023. PA Images / Alamy Stock Photo

‘A toxic policy with little returns’ – lessons for the UK-Rwanda deal from Australia and the US

Anthropological fieldwork into ‘outsourced’ asylum measures in Nauru and Guatemala reveal how they actually work - and don’t work - in practice.
An asylum-seeker crosses the border from New York into Canada at Roxham Rd. in March 2020 in Hemmingford, Que. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ryan Remiorz

Migrants deserve the right to make decisions about where they live

People don’t give up their right to be mobile or their right to make decisions about their lives simply because they are forced to flee untenable circumstances.
Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Andrew Fury personally greets Angelika, the first Ukrainian refugee off the plane at St. John’s, NL, on May 9, 2022. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Greg Locke

Canada needs to be as welcoming to Afghan refugees as it is to Ukrainians

The disparate treatment of Ukrainians compared with other refugees to Canada suggests to some an unfairness in our immigration process at best — and systemic racism at worst.
A Haitian family poses for a photograph after after taking the oath of citizenship on Parliament Hill in 2019. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick

Settlement services need to improve their online offerings for tech-savvy newcomers

Newcomers need settlement services to learn about life in Canada. Settlement agencies need to use online channels and communicate existing online services to help newcomers before they arrive.
People who fled the war in Ukraine rest inside an indoor gymnasium being used as a refugee centre in the village of Medyka, a border crossing between Poland and Ukraine, on March 15, 2022. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

How Russia is trying to stoke anti-Ukrainian sentiment in eastern EU countries

The European Union is once again faced with the danger of destabilization. Putin’s cyberwar on free societies using the migration crisis went well in 2015. He must not succeed now in Poland or beyond.
A train with refugees fleeing Ukraine crosses the border in Medyka, Poland, on March 7, 2022. (AP Photo/Visar Kryeziu)

Is Canada’s welcome to fleeing Ukrainians a new era of refugee policy?

Canada’s temporary protection measures to Ukrainians fleeing the war ensure they’re brought to safety faster. But will this kind of response become the preferred method for all future refugees?
Most countries closed their borders, at least partially, at some point last year. But the world is starting to reopen. COVID Border Accountability Project

Closed borders, travel bans and halted immigration: 5 ways COVID-19 changed how – and where – people move around the world

Last year, 189 countries – home to roughly 65% of the global population – cut themselves off from the world at some point. Borders are now reopening and travel resuming, but normal is a ways off.
The first group of asylum-seekers allowed to cross from a migrant camp in Mexico into the United States following Biden’s repeal of the ‘Remain in Mexico’ policy arrives to Brownsville, Texas, Feb. 25, 2021. John Moore/Getty Images

Biden ends policy forcing asylum-seekers to ‘remain in Mexico’ – but for 41,247 migrants, it’s too late

Luck and tenacity paid off for some 15,000 migrants who may now pursue their asylum cases in the US But nearly 42,000 cases filed from Mexico under a Trump-era rule were already rejected.
An undocumented immigrant who has lived in the U.S. for 28 years shows a picture of her grandchild and son, who was deported under Trump’s ‘zero tolerance’ policy in 2017. John Moore/Getty Images

Severed families, raided workplaces and a climate of fear: Assessing Trump’s immigration crackdown

Trump made three anti-immigration pledges in 2016: ban Muslims, build a wall and enforce all immigration laws. Four years on, a migration scholar examines his record – and its effect on the country.
The pandemic and anti-immigration policies haven’t stopped migration from Central America – they’ve just made conditions at the border more hazardous. Herika Martinez/AFP via Getty Images

Migrant caravans restart as pandemic deepens the humanitarian crisis at the US-Mexico border

COVID-19 has created new hardships for migrants while giving the Trump administration an excuse to further restrict asylum as public attention focuses on the pandemic.
People march towards Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland’s office in Toronto during a rally led by current and former international students calling for changes to immigration rules during COVID-19 on Sept. 12, 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS/ Tijana Martin

COVID-19 has hardened Canadian views on immigration

Pandemic fears could permanently harden Canadian attitudes toward immigration, and generate pressure to reduce the number of yearly arrivals.
Protesters attend a demonstration in support of migrant worker in front of the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada in Toronto in August 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Christopher Katsarov

Throne speech offers little systemic change for migrant workers, refugees

The federal government must make good on its throne speech language about making it easier for migrant workers to formally become Canadian by instituting a comprehensive regularization plan.
In this August 2017 photo, Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers greet migrants as they enter into Canada at an unofficial border crossing at the end of Roxham Road in Champlain, N.Y., on the Québec border. A federal court has invalidated Canada’s Safe Third Country Agreement with the United States. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Canadian court correctly finds the U.S. is unsafe for refugees

The Canadian government should send a clear signal that it cares about constitutional and international law, heed a Federal Court ruling and take steps to immediately suspend the STCA.
Protesters stand outside the Federal Court of Canada building for a hearing of the designation of the U.S. as a safe third country for refugees in Toronto in November 2019. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette

Whose travel is ‘essential’ during coronavirus: Hockey players or asylum-seekers?

Many of us would probably like to watch some professional sports right now. But wouldn’t we rather Canada live up to its international legal responsibilities to respect the rights of asylum-seekers?
Protesters in Hong Kong during demonstrations against China’s draft bill to impose national security laws on the semi-autonomous territory. Ivan Abreu/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

Why Hong Kong’s untold history of protecting refugee rights matters now in its struggle with China

The cherished legal rights that Beijing seeks to suppress in Hong Kong were established, in part, by Vietnamese asylum-seekers who fought for their freedom in court in the 1980s.

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