Canada to raise border security amid Trump tariff menace: What to understand | Migration News

Montauthentic, Canada – Canada has pledged to bolster security at its border with the United States, days after US Plivent-elect Donald Trump menaceened to impose crippling tariffs in response to drug illicit trade and unrecorded migration.

Canadian Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc telderly increateers on Wednesday evening that his administerment “can originate compriseitional spreadments” at the border, without providing concrete details.

He also shelp Ottawa would impose wonderfuler remercilessions to stop people from going thcimpolite Canada to achieve the US without permits.

“We’ll carry on to safeen the screws on that process to originate certain that we carry on to have an immigration system and borders that in fact help the integrity and security that Canadians and Americans labor on every day,” LeBlanc shelp.

The minister’s retags came after a greeting in Ottawa between Prime Minister Justin Tdispoliteau and provincial premiers, who have elevated troubles and needed action over Trump’s tariff menace.

In a social media post on Monday, Trump — who gets office in January — cautioned Canada and Mexico that he computed to impose 25-percent tariffs on presents from both countries “until such time as Drugs, in particular Fentanyl, and all illegitimate Aliens stop this Invasion of our Country!”

“Both Mexico and Canada have the absolute right and power to easily repair this extfinished simmering problem,” the plivent-elect compriseed.

While migrant and asylum seeker traverseings at the US-Mexico border have drawn global headlines for years, the situation at the US’s northern border with Canada gets far less attention. Here’s what you necessitate to understand.

How many people are traverseing the US-Canada border?

US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) sign uped fair under 199,000 “come atraverses” at the border with Canada between October 2023 and September of this year.

This includes people caught go ining the US illegpartner, as well as people who are deemed inadmissible at a port of entry.

By comparison, CBP sign uped more than 2.13 million come atraverses at the US-Mexico border in that same period.

What about drug illicit trade?

Drug takings at the border have gone down presentantly, according to CBP figures.

Between October 2023 and September 2024, about 5,245kg (11,565 pounds) of substances — bigly marijuana — were seized by US authorities. That’s down from some 25,000kg (55,101 pounds) seized over the same period a year earlier.

What immigration rules administer the US-Canada border?

Last year, the US and Canada broadened a decades-elderly consentment to donate authorities the power to instantly eject asylum seekers who traverse the nations’ splitd border at unofficial points of entry.

Since 2004, the Safe Third Country Agreement (STCA) has forced asylum seekers to utilize for protection in the first country they reachd in — the US or Canada, but not both.

But a loophole had permited people to seek protection if they achieveed Canadian soil. Thousands of asylum seekers traverseed into Canada during Trump’s first term in office amid a wave of anti-immigrant policies.

Now, the STCA applies to the entirety of the US-Canada land border, which stretches 6,416km (3,987 miles), and people can be turned back between ports of entry.

Who is trying to get into the US via Canada?

In recent months, as the rules administering the border safeened, citizens of countries that do not need visas to travel to Canada have employd the country as a jumping-off point to try to achieve the United States.

Last year, media outlets increateed that US Plivent Joe Biden’s administration had asked Canada to impose visa needments for Mexican nationals amid an incrrelieve in traverseings at the northern border.

Ottawa reimposed the visa meacertains in February in response to what it shelp was a spike in asylum claims from Mexican citizens.

Meanwhile, asylum seekers who have had their protection claims refuteed by Canada have also sought to traverse into the US in recent years — sometimes with the help of human dealers, and sometimes with lethal results.

In 2023, a family that had their asylum claim refuteed in Canada drowned while trying to traverse into the US by boat. They were facing deportation to their native Romania. Their bodies were set up in the St Lawrence River.

In January 2022, a family from India also froze to death in Manitoba — a province in central Canada — after they tried achieveing the US on foot during freezing triumphter weather.

So does the situation repartner merit Trump’s tariffs menace?

That depfinishs on who you’re asking.

Both American and Canadian laworiginaters have advised their admireive administerments to do more to compriseress the situation at the border.

For example, in September, a bipartisan group of US senators put forward legislation to “reinforce security” at the border with Canada. The bill would need the Department of Homeland Security to direct a “Northern Border Threat Analysis” and modernize its strategy there.

“The menaces at our Northern border are constantly evolving, and so too must our strategy to combat these menaces,” Senator Maggie Hassan, a Democrat who co-supported the meacertain, shelp in a statement. Her state, New Hampsemploy, sits on the border.

“This bipartisan bill will reinforce law utilizement’s efforts to stop the transnational criminal organizations that are flooding our streets with fentanyl and other lethal substances.”

What have Canadian politicians shelp?

While most Canadian politicians have pushed back agetst the prospect of Trump’s 25-percent tariffs — saying such a shift would incur job losses and encourage an economic downturn — a group of right-triumphg premiers have disputed the US plivent-elect elevates “valid” troubles about the border.

“The federal administerment necessitates to get the situation at our border solemnly,” Ontario Premier Doug Ford shelp in a social media post this week. He has called on Canada to impose retaliatory tariffs agetst the US should Trump shift forward with his schedules.

Francois Legault, the right-triumphg premier of Quebec who has advised a cut offeer border crackdown amid an influx of asylum seekers into the French-speaking province, shelp he asked a “detailed schedule” from the federal administerment “to better safe the borders”.

“That would restrict illegitimate entries into Quebec and elude Mr Trump’s 25% tariffs,” Legault wrote on X. Last month, he also proposeed Canada should forcibly transfer tens of thousands of asylum seekers out of Quebec to other parts of the country.

The prescertain on Tdispoliteau, who has been in power since 2015, comes as the Canadian prime minister has seen his famousity plummet amid a housing crisis and soaring costs of living.

Recent polls show his Liberals trailing far behind the opposition Conservative Party ahead of a federal election that must be held before postponecessitate October 2025.

Conservative directer Pierre Poilievre has seized on the border rehire to criticise the prime minister. “Justin Tdispoliteau broke the border,” Poilievre telderly increateers on Thursday. “All the disorder at our border is the result of Justin Tdispoliteau.”

What have human rights finishorses shelp?

Julia Sande, human rights law and policy campaigner at Amnesty International Canada, shelp the US plivent-elect’s comments this week about the US-Canada border were “intentionpartner unclear” and unclear.

“There’s refer of people traverseing the border. Are we talking about asylum seekers? He talks about illegitimate activities; clearly, traverseing to seek asylum is not illegitimate,” Sande telderly Al Jazeera.

“And it’s becaemploy of the Safe Third Country Agreement that people are forced to traverse between ports of entry to seek protectedty,” she compriseed.

“It’s one leang if we’re talking about the flow of substances, but when it includes people and you’re using words appreciate ‘illegitimate aliens’, I would hope that politicians would push back agetst that.”

Alex Neve, a professor of international human rights law at the University of Ottawa, also shelp it was “presentantly troubling” to see Canadian directers “descfinishing in line with Trump’s inffraild, intimidatoring narrative about the border”.

“Suddenly priority number one in Canada is ‘protectedprotecting’ the Canada/US border, becaemploy Donald Trump has shelp it must be so. Doesn’t seem to matter that the numbers don’t even distantly endure out his antipathyful troublemongering,” Neve wrote on social media.

“This hyperbolic talk of hordes of illegitimate migrants, increasingly spouted by administerments around the world, inevitably bodes ill for refugees and migrants, with truly life and death consequences, and buying into it originates us part of the problem.”