Washington, D.C. — Today, the United States and Canada announced a renegotiated Canada-U.S. Safe Third Country Agreement during President Joe Biden’s visit to Canada. Under the renegotiated agreement, Canada would be able to turn back individuals seeking asylum who cross the land border into Canada between official ports of entry, rather than allow them to enter Canada to make an asylum claim. Similarly, the United States would be able to do the same for individuals crossing into the United States from Canada. In response, Patrick Gaspard, president and CEO of the Center for American Progress, issued the following statement:
Today’s agreement is troubling. Canada and the United States should use their partnership to build the migration management system needed to address historic levels of human mobility throughout the Americas, as they committed to do last June in the Los Angeles Declaration on Migration and Protection. Shutting down avenues for asylum-seekers to reach safety does not achieve that. The Biden administration must live up to its commitment to build a sustainable and humane immigration system. Today’s announcement is a backward step.
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