Toronto/CMEDIA: The fear of Donald Trump’s reported promise to begin deporting undocumented migrants after taking office in January, Canadian groups working with newcomers have been preparing for a possible isurge in people making their way across the Canadian border.
Trump has said he would invoke the Alien Enemies Act, a rarely used 1798 law that allows the president to deport any non-citizen from a country the U.S. is at war with and deploying the National Guard, which can be activated on orders from a governor.
Stephen Miller, a top Trump adviser, has said troops under Republican governors would send troops to nearby states that refuse to participate.
Trump, who repeatedly referred to immigrants “poisoning the blood” of the United States, has stricken fear in immigrant communities with words alone.
Jennifer Elrick, an associate professor of sociology at McGill University who studies immigration policy said that the threat of mass deportation could lead to a surge in both asylum claims at official ports of entry with attempts to cross into Canada.
Regardless of Trump’s promise of deportations, Elrick added there will need to be a bigger discussion about planning to manage this increased number of undocumented people who never report to authorities.
She noted although there is no accurate count of how many undocumented immigrants live in Canada, though researchers have estimated as many as 500,000 people are without status.
While Trump criticizing Biden policies for creating and expanding legal pathways to entry, including CBP One, an online app allowing nearly 1 million people entering at land crossings with Mexico since January 2023, and another policy allowing more than 500,000 Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans to fly into the country with financial sponsors.
Trump has slashed the number of refugees screened abroad by the United Nations and State Department for settlement in the U.S., Biden has rebuilt it with an annual cap of 125,000, up from 18,000 under Trump.
Biden also expanded use of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) curtailing by Trump to hundreds of thousands of Haitians and Venezuelans.
Months after Trump’s taking power in 2017, there was a surge in arrivals with thousands of people crossing into Canada starting in the summer of that year, primarily at Roxham Road, near Hemmingford, Que.
With crossing being more difficult since Roxham Road was closed following Canada and the U.S. change of the Safe Third Country Agreement last year, there had been fewer interceptions by the RCMP but more asylum claims at the airport and official land borders.
Melissa Claisse, who works at the Montreal-based Welcome Collective, established to help those who crossed in 2017, said her group will be ready if Quebec becomes a destination for people fleeing the U.S. due to Donald Trump’s second presidency.
She added her concern of Roxham Road closure to cause more people to attempt dangerous crossings through wooded areas.
“It’s very possible we’re going to see people in remote areas in mid-winter, and we’ve already seen people dying in situations like that,” said Claisse.
The RCMPs have been on the alert for months for that surge in the event of a Trump victory, said Montreal-based RCMP Sgt. Charles Poirier.
Concerned with authorities’s recent increase in illegal crossings south from Canada to the U.S., RCMP added they could see more people travelling the other way.
“If people start crossing everywhere on the territory like the southbound are doing…going to be a complete game changer because those people will still have to be brought to a central facility…our officers…running across the territory to catch them,” said Poirier.
The Canada Border Services Agency declined an interview request, but said in a statement it “works in an operating environment that changes on a daily basis and we are ready to respond and adapt as needed.”
