US, Canada signs pact to reject asylum seekers

The United States and Canada have reached an agreement to reject asylum seekers at unofficial border crossings.Information Guide Nigeria

VANGUARD reports that US President, Joe Biden and Canadian Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau will announce the pact on Friday during Biden’s visit to Ottawa.

According to VANGUARD, the agreement is anticipated to allow officials on US and Canada border to reject such asylum seekers heading in either direction, as the US side has also seen an upsurge in migrant crossings there from Canada.

The development is part of efforts to curtail an influx of migrants at Roxham Road, an unofficial crossing between New York state and the province of Quebec, CNN reports.

Canada will create a new refugee programme for 15,000 migrants fleeing persecution and violence in South and Central America, unnamed US officials told CBS News, the BBC’s US partner.

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VANGUARD reports that Biden is in Ottawa, Canada, for 24 hours to talk about a series of economic, trade and immigration issues with Trudeau.

The migration accord is scheduled to be announced before Biden returns to the US on Friday, CNN reported.

This partnership between the two countries is a modification to the two sides’ 2004 Safe Third Country Agreement, which requires migrants to make an asylum claim in the first “safe” country they reach, whether it is the US or Canada.NYSC Portal

The new arrangement would close a loophole in the Safe Third Country Agreement that prevented Canada from turning away those crossing the border at unofficial crossing points.

The loophole had led migrants to enter Canada from places like Roxham Road, VANGUARD reports.

New York City authorities last month said they were providing free bus tickets for migrants to travel up towards the US border with Canada.

VANGUARD reports that negotiations on the new US-Canada border deal had been stalled for months, according to reports.

Since US was bogged down with its own migrant crisis at the US-Mexico border, US officials did not want to rework the agreement.

According to Biden’s administration has also proposed to crack down on asylum seekers at the US southern border with Mexico by making it harder for migrants to claim asylum once Covid border controls lift in May.

Although the proposal has met backlash from human rights groups, the new US-Canada agreement could take effect quickly as it does not require the approval of the US Congress.JAMB Result

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