Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Minister Marc Miller arrives to a cabinet meeting on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Nov. 5.Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press
Immigration Minister Marc Miller says the federal government is ready to work with the United States as it implements president-elect Donald Trump’s promises to crack down on immigration, but he wants anyone hoping to come to Canada to do so legally.
Ottawa has been under increasing pressure from opposition MPs, the Quebec Premier and immigration lawyers since last week’s U.S. election to respond to concerns that Mr. Trump’s plans to deport millions of people will lead to an influx of asylum seekers coming into Canada. Mr. Miller told The Globe and Mail that any claims that the incoming president’s plans could affect Canada are “speculation.”
“We will always be acting in the national interest and those measures that we move to undertake, regardless of what decision is taken by the new administration, to make sure that our borders are secure, that people that are coming to Canada do so in a regular pathway, and the reality that not everyone is welcome here,” he said.
Mr. Trump promised during the election campaign to conduct the largest deportation in American history of people living there illegally. There are an estimated 11 million undocumented migrants in the U.S.
Stephen Miller, who takes a hard-line stand on immigration, is expected to be Mr. Trump’s deputy chief of policy. On Monday, Mr. Trump’s incoming border czar Tom Homan said the administration would prioritize deporting migrants living in the U.S. illegally who pose security and public safety threats.
Quebec Premier François Legault and Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet have raised concerns about people facing deportation streaming into the province to claim asylum. The RCMP told The Globe last week that they have plans in place in case of an influx of migrants from the United States.
On Monday, several immigration lawyers urged Ottawa to change a policy that allows migrants fleeing from the U.S. to claim asylum here if they cross the border illegally and evade the authorities for two weeks.
In 2017, Haitians streamed into Canada from the U.S. after the first Trump administration ended temporary protected status for Haitians who had fled to the U.S. The policy sparked an influx of Haitians claiming asylum at the “irregular” Roxham Road border crossing into Quebec.
Republican presidential nominee and former U.S. President-elect Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally in Prescott Valley, Az. on Oct. 13.Go Nakamura/Reuters
After talks with the U.S., the Safe Third Country Agreement was revised and Roxham Road was closed in 2023. The changes tightened the rules, but allowed someone entering Canada illegally from the U.S. and remaining undiscovered for 14 days to file a refugee claim in Canada. Those arriving from the U.S. at airports and regular border crossings are usually turned back.
The lawyers cautioned that unless Ottawa changes the policy quickly, record numbers of people facing deportation by Mr. Trump would try to make it to Canada, where they could qualify for a work permit and health care while waiting for their claim to be processed.
Winnipeg refugee and immigration lawyer David Matas urged the government to speak to the Biden administration now, before Mr. Trump takes office in January, about changing the agreement. He said the 14-day provision is “an incentive to traffickers to get round the system.”
The federal government and provinces have been accommodating asylum seekers temporarily in hotels, and shelters in big cities say they are hard pressed to find them beds.
Vancouver immigration lawyer Richard Kurland warned of a surge in undocumented migrants facing deportation from the U.S. after the presidential election. He urged Ottawa to remove the incentive to cross the border illegally, and “trampoline” to Canada, by altering the agreement so people crossing from the U.S. illegally cannot claim asylum from inside the country.
“President Trump will likely pursue criminals for removal and that means that particular group will be the most motivated group to seek sanctuary in Canada,” he warned.
David Garson, managing partner of Garson Immigration Law in Toronto, said his phones had been ringing “off the hook” from people in America inquiring about how to move to Canada since the U.S. election.
He predicted many of those crossing illegally would face “horrible hardship,” paying people smugglers to cross the border and then struggling to find housing and jobs.
Speculation about the impact of a Trump presidency on asylum seekers comes amid a wider debate in Canada about the levels of immigration, including temporary foreign workers and students, as well as refugee claimants, and their impact on housing and other services.
A new poll suggests most people think Canada should let fewer refugees stay, with only 10 per cent of Canadians believing the country should accept more, according to a Nanos poll conducted for The Globe and Mail.
The poll showed 56 per cent of respondents think Canada should accept fewer refugees and protected persons as permanent residents than Ottawa plans next year.
The Nanos poll, a hybrid telephone and online survey of 1,010 people, found that 59 per cent of those polled in Quebec want Canada to allow fewer refugees to settle here, compared with 49 per cent in British Columbia and 57 per cent in Ontario. Almost 60 per cent of men, compared with 53 per cent of women, think Canada should allow fewer refugees to settle here and 29 per cent of Canadians think Ottawa has got the number about right.
The poll asked about plans by Ottawa to accept 395,000 immigrants as permanent residents in 2025, of whom about 68,000 (or about 17 per cent) would be refugees or protected persons.
Nik Nanos, chairman of Nanos Research, said the poll shows Canadians are not against immigration, but they are concerned about whether Canada can accommodate more people.
“When there is a shortage of housing and a shortage of doctors and a shortage of nurses, average Canadians are thinking: Do we have the capacity to take more?” he said.
The poll, conducted between Nov. 4 to Nov. 6, has a margin of error of 3.1 percentage points, plus or minus, 19 times out of 20.