Does the LA Times and screed writers Karen Musalo and Audrey Macklin understand who is president now and making the decision? (paywalled LA Times piece here)
Opinion: Now Trump’s cruel border policy is spreading in Canada
At almost 4,000 miles, the United States’ northern border is about twice as long as the U.S.-Mexico border — much of it wild, unmarked and dangerously cold for half the year. And yet, human smuggling and deaths at the U.S.-Canada border have not been a major phenomenon, as they have been down south. Nor has Canada poured billions of dollars into a network of walls, fences, robotic dogs and militarized border patrol. It is also true that historically the number of asylum seekers and migrants seeking entry to Canada has been relatively low.
But the ills of the U.S.-Mexico border seem bound to spread northward, now that Canada reached a deal with the Biden administration to expand a 2004 agreement to repel Canada-bound asylum seekers back to the United States (and vice versa).
And this is Trump’s fault how, exactly? Bush 43 was president in 2004. Biden has expanded it.
As U.S. policies toward asylum seekers grew harsher from 2017 on, the number attempting to enter Canada increased. Instead of appealing to its southern neighbor to do better, Canada is coordinating with the U.S. to pass the buck on the legal obligation to protect refugees, which both countries undertook when they signed the Refugee Convention and Protocol more than 50 years ago. Their current approach foists responsibility onto poorer, less stable countries that are already doing more than their share.
That sounds more like Justin Trudeau’s fault than Trump’s. Oh, and did you notice the 50 years thing?
After Trump’s election, more asylum seekers headed north, and to avoid being sent back, they entered between official ports of entry. Biden’s failure to reverse the worst of Trump’s policies has led increasing numbers of individuals to hope for the chance of protection in Canada. In the past year, about 40,000 have crossed into Canada at an informal border crossing called Roxham Road, in Quebec.
So it was bad for Trump to tell illegals to not come, and his fault they’re going to Canada? Now, let’s say it was Trump continuing Obama’s “cruel” policies (kids in “cages”, anyone?): who would they blame?
Karen Musalo is a law professor and the founding director of the Center for Gender and Refugee Studies at UC Law, San Francisco. Audrey Macklin is the director of the Centre for Criminology and Sociolegal Studies at the University of Toronto.
