Just over a month ago we highlighted the comments of one recently deported Mexican nationalist who told Reuters that illegally immigrating to the U.S. was over, courtesy of the Trump administration, and that it was "Canada's turn" to welcome the world's immigrants with open arms.
"For those without documents, I think (the United States) is over. Now it's Canada's turn."
And, with each passing month, new immigration stats from Canada seem to indicate that Reuters' young border-hopper was a very prescient fellow indeed. According to stats highlighted by the Financial Times recently, "land border asylum claims" in Canada continue to skyrocket with Quebec crossings up nearly 3x YoY and crossings into Ontario surging as well.
And while 'open borders' sound super nice in a political speech, the practical reality is that the majority of Canadians, just like Americans, don't approve of unfettered illegal border crossings that place a massive financial burden on taxpayers and are often accompanied by a surge in crime (see "Half Of Canadians Want Illegal Immigrants Deported").
Meanwhile, as Reuters points out today, Migrants who applied for asylum in the United States but then fled north, may have miscalculated in viewing Canadian courts as a more lenient jurisdiction. That is because their time in the United States could count against them when they apply for asylum in Canada, according to a review of Canadian federal court rulings on asylum seekers and interviews with refugee lawyers.
But Canadian refugee tribunals are wary of "asylum-shopping" and look askance at people coming from one of the world's richest countries to file claims, the refugee lawyers said.
"Abandoning a claim in the United States or coming to Canada after a negative decision in the United States, or failing to claim and remaining in the States for a long period of time - those are all big negatives. Big, big negatives,” said Toronto-based legal aid lawyer Anthony Navaneelan, who is representing applicants who came to Canada from the United States in recent months.
The asylum seekers will make their cases before Canada's refugee tribunals, which rejected 5,000 cases last year. The tribunals' decisions are not made public, so the reasons are not known. An Immigration and Refugee Board spokeswoman confirmed, however, that an applicant’s time in the United States can be a factor in a tribunal’s decision.
Those with failed U.S. asylum claims must prove to Canadian tribunals that the U.S. courts were wrong in their assessment, that their circumstances have changed for the worse, or that they qualify in Canada, several lawyers said. Crucially, all applicants must also show that the often years-old fears that led them to leave their home countries for the United States still exist.
"The longer they’ve been away (from their country of origin), the more difficult it is to establish that they’re a refugee," said Winnipeg refugee lawyer Ken Zaifman.
Frankly, we're shocked. First it was just Trump supporters, but now it's looking increasingly likely that Canada is also filled with a bunch of racist people intent upon protecting their 'arbitrary' borders.