What the end of a U.S. COVID-19 border restriction could mean for Canada
CBC
The United States lifted a pandemic border control policy late Thursday — a move that could have implications for Canada's approach to migrants and asylum seekers.
The Trump administration invoked Title 42 shortly after the COVID-19 pandemic started in March 2020. The policy, which is part of the 1944 Public Health Service Act, allows American border authorities to quickly turn back migrants, including asylum seekers, at Ports of Entry (POE) to prevent the spread of disease.
"There is a serious danger of the introduction of COVID-19 into the land POEs and border patrol stations at or near the United States borders with Canada or Mexico, and into the interior of the country as a whole," Dr. Robert R. Redfield, then director of the Centers for Disease Control, said in the 2020 order.
The Biden administration attempted to terminate Title 42 in 2022 but court decisions kept it in place. The order officially expired at 11:59 p.m. ET Thursday.
According to United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP) statistics, the United States Border Patrol expelled just over a million migrants between October 2021 and September 2022 under Title 42. It expelled 85,672 migrants in March of this year alone, the latest month for which statistics are available.
A CBP spokesperson did not answer the question when CBC News asked how many of the expelled migrants came from Canada.
The White House has introduced new border enforcement measures which will maintain expedited removal for migrants who attempt to enter the United States unlawfully.
Migrants and asylum seekers in north and central Mexico now have to use an app to fill out a form prior to arriving in the United States. The Biden administration also has said it will put more resources into anti-smuggling efforts in response to Title 42's expiration.
Luisa Veronis, a geography professor at the University of Ottawa, said smugglers often spread misinformation about changes in border policies in an effort to increase business. She said the United States and Canada could respond by providing more information about what the recent changes actually mean.
"I think that's another point where both Canada and the U.S. could control … making the information accessible, digestible. I think that would be a way to at least make people aware of what is really going on," Veronis said.
The Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada assessed 45,444 refugee claims in 2022, according to board statistics. The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) and Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) report that 91,870 asylum claimants came to Canada last year.
Though Veronis is critical of the United States government's approach to asylum seekers, she said it's notable that the U.S. is using the expiry of a pandemic restriction as an opportunity to take a new approach to the problem. She said Canada could learn from that effort to address an influx of asylum seekers.
"The U.S. is trying to put in place practical ways for people to claim asylum by creating an app," Veronis said.
"So maybe this is a good time to find legal pathways ... We need to come up with a smart solution."
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