March 18, 2019 – Canada and the U.S. are in talks about
altering the Safe Third Country Agreement, which many believe helps
motivate asylum seekers to cross at unrecognized border points.
The bilateral agreement means that an asylum seeker has to
claim refugee status in the first 'safe' country at
which they arrive.
It means that asylum seekers arriving in the U.S. are not
allowed to cross into Canada to claim refugee status.
If they try to cross into Canada from the U.S. at recognized
border points, they are turned back.
However, they are allowed to claim refugee status if they have
already made it to Canada, which is why more than 40,000 have
crossed at irregular border points as they try to flee Donald
Trump's U.S. immigration crackdown.
