Roxham: The little country road that became a big political headache for the Trudeau government

A small road straddling the Canada-U.S. border has become a political hot potato again in recent weeks as politicians call on Ottawa to close it to migrants claiming asylum.

Quebec Premier François Legault recently wrote a letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau asking him to close Roxham Road to asylum-seekers. Thousands of them have crossed into Canada from the United States at Roxham in recent years.

Legault claimed that the influx of people waiting to have their claims heard has put heavy pressure on the province's public services. In a similar letter published Tuesday in the Globe and Mail, Legault asked other provinces to help.

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre also has called on Trudeau to close Roxham Road. Trudeau himself said Wednesday the government is working on shutting down the irregular border crossing. But it's not at all clear how Ottawa could do that.

Here's what you need to know.

Roxham Road is bisected by the Canada-U.S. Border between Quebec and New York. It sits about 50 km south of Montreal. 

The road is a well-travelled unofficial border crossing for asylum seekers hoping to enter Canada.

Roxham used to be a dirt road with a ditch marking the border near the municipality of Hemmingford, Que. It has since been paved on the Canadian side.

Despite its status as an unofficial crossing, Roxham Road has a semi-permanent RCMP post set up by the federal government where police officers can begin processing asylum claims.

Since 2017, Canada has seen an influx of refugee claimants crossing the U.S. border at various unofficial entry points.

Asylum seekers are barred from entering Canada at official border points under the Safe Third Country Agreement. The agreement states that asylum seekers who enter the U.S. or Canada must make their claims in the first country they arrive in, because the two countries share similar approaches to immigration.

But the treaty has a loophole big enough to walk through: it doesn't cover unofficial points of entry like Roxham Road. The Roxham crossing sits between two official border crossings, one of which is roughly 5 km away.

It is against the law for an asylum claimant to cross the border anywhere other than at an official port of entry. But once someone is in Canada, they're legally allowed to apply for asylum, which is a step toward refugee status.

According to federal government statistics, more than 39,000 people claimed asylum in Quebec in 2022 after crossing into Canada outside official ports of entry. Only about 369 people claimed asylum after crossing at a non-official point of entry elsewhere in the country.