The US and Canada have

definitely beaten

an agreement that would allow any country to return asylum seekers who cross the northern border without permission, according to internal documents obtained by The Times and a source familiar with the negotiations.

The deal expands the ability of Canadian and US border officials to return asylum seekers who cross the border without permission.

//sounds repetitive but goes away for now//

The new policy, which applies to people caught without permission within 14 days of crossing the road, is expected to take effect soon.

The US hopes for the addition

//of what?//

reduce incentives to cross the border irregularly,

according to

the source, who was granted anonymity to discuss a still-confidential agreement

said

. The negotiations in progress

several several

years, as both countries saw an increase in movements across the border in both directions, the source said.

Both the US and Canada struggle to deal with migrants crossing their borders without permission.

President Biden and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau are expected to begin a series of meetings Thursday in Ottawa, Canada, to discuss key strategic interests, including migration.

The deal is an update of the so-called Safe-Third Country Agreement that the two countries signed in 2004. That agreement has long required migrants entering through an official port of entry to seek asylum in the country they are traveling through.

However, the old agreement did not apply to those who crossed the northern border without permission.

As part of the agreement, Canada

will announce is expected to announce

15,000 slots for migrants from the Western Hemisphere to legally enter the country, said a source familiar with the negotiations.

// a different source than above?//

The Biden administration has changed its immigration strategy in recent months to deter migrants from crossing the southern border. Border crossings, which had been increasing for months, dropped dramatically in February after the US began using Title 42, a public health law, to send Cubans, Venezuelans, Haitians and Nicaraguans back to Mexico. At the same time, the government also offered new legal ways for people from the four countries to come to the US

The administration also plans to introduce a new rule at the southern border restricting access to asylum for those who cross that border without permission.

The new agreement with Canada, along with Ottawa’s decision to offer 15,000 new slots for legal entry, is part of the Biden administration’s effort to work with other countries to increase the impact on unauthorized crossing while opening legal avenues for migrants. , explains the source.

The drop in border crossings in February proves the new approach is already working on the southwestern border, the source argued.

US arrests of migrants in US-Canada while rare compared

along

those on the U.S. border with Mexico have risen in recent months, according to Department of Homeland Security data. The 2,856 arrests of migrants at the northern border this fiscal year, which began in October, have already surpassed last year’s figure. Nearly 40,000 migrants had entered Canada from an area in northern New York, Canadian Broadcasting reports.

corp

reported last month.

Trudeau has said in interviews that Canada needed to address the increase in irregular migration at the border. Authorities in jurisdictions with high border crossings have complained that their immigration services are overwhelmed by migrants entering illegally.

“I can assure you that I told him in my direct conversations with President Biden that it is a priority for us,” he told the CBC in a February interview. The prime minister told CTV this week that the increase in crossings has been a challenge not only for migrants, but also for Canadians, who want their immigration system to be rule-based and applied to everyone.

The Canadian government has previously faced backlash over its original immigration deal with the US.

Immigrant advocates have called for Trudeau to suspend the law entirely, insisting that the US immigration system is not giving asylum seekers a fair chance.

They also claim that US detention is not safe for migrants and conditions are appalling.

A Canadian federal judge in 2020 ruled that the deal violates Canada’s constitution, siding with lawyers who argued that returning asylum seekers to the United States would deprive them of life, liberty and safety as tenants of the Canadian charter. Late last year, lawyers for the Canadian government defended the 19-year-old law in Canada’s Supreme Court, arguing that the US immigration system is fair and just and that the law should stand.

Times staff writers Hamed Aleaziz reported this story from San Francisco, Erin B. Logan from Ottawa, Canada.