U.S. crackdown on illegal immigrants is sending a surge of refugees to Canada
As fears of refugee deportation mount in the United States, a surge of asylum seekers is turning to Canada — only to find a border that is getting increasingly hard to cross.
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The number of refugee seekers processed by the Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA) has shot up by 87 per cent between January and April.
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In April, 494 ineligible refugee claimants from the U.S. were turned back at the Canadian border under the Safe Third Country Agreement, which bars most people from seeking asylum in Canada at the border. That's up from 280 in January — a 76 per cent increase.
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Growing refugee traffic at the Canadian border this year has emerged amid a looming clampdown on illegal immigration in the U.S. that experts say could trigger a flood of asylum seekers to Canada.
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A controversial U.S. move in late March that paused protected legal status for refugees from Colombia, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela (CHNV) is likely behind the spike, say immigration lawyers and researchers.
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'That is what we would see as a major indicator towards potential migration flows northbound,' said Dan Anson, director general of intelligence and investigations for the CBSA. 'Those… main groups… are likely going to be targets of potential enforcement and removal operations (in the U.S.)'
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Toronto immigration lawyer Mario Bellissimo said his office has seen around a 200-per-cent jump in inquiries in the past week.
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'Any time you have a dramatic announcement, it does prompt individuals to move,' he said.
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On Tuesday, the federal government responded to 'rising migration' concerns with new measures it says will make the country's immigration and asylum systems 'more responsive to new and developing pressures.'
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Among those steps will be new ineligibility rules to 'protect the asylum system against sudden increases.'
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The CHNV parole program in the U.S. initially offered 'parole' to certain Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans to stay in the U.S. for two years. The Trump administration paused those protections on March 25, 2025.
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The following month, asylum claims processed by the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) rose to 4,560, up from 2,940.
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