Trudeau gov’t says it will ENFORCE immigration laws as concerns of ‘Roxham Road 2.0’ intensify

A recent border influx has emerged following President-elect Donald Trump’s historic election win this month.

Alex Dhaliwal
  |   November 27, 2024   |   News

The Trudeau government promised an undisclosed number of “measures” to enforce Canada’s immigration laws, following threats of a tariff war by President-elect Donald Trump.

“There is work to be done here to make sure people aren’t going in irregularly into the United States,” Marc Miller, the Minister of Immigration, told reporters Tuesday. He admits Canada cannot allow its problems to bleed over into the United States, reported Blacklock’s.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau failed to defuse tensions after telling Trump that less than 1% of border crossers entering the U.S. illegally came from Canada.

“President Trump seemed to lump Canada and Mexico together in illegal immigration; do you think that’s fair?” asked a reporter. “It isn’t,” replied Miller. “We have different challenges.”

“There are a number of measures we are considering in any event regardless of what the incoming administration would have been,” Miller said. “Clearly this will be part of a discussion we will have with the Americans.”

When asked what measures were tabled, the minister revealed the RCMP could be deployed to the border.

Over the weekend, dozens of migrants went to the Lacolle border crossing (near the defunct Roxham Road) to seek asylum, reported the Montreal Journal.

According to information obtained by the publication, at least 80 people applied for asylum between Saturday and Sunday, substantially surpassing daily averages of a dozen per day.

One RCMP spokesperson said they are ‘powerless’ to deny entry to asylum seekers, despite having ‘several plans’ in place, amid an expected dash to enter Canada.

This border influx has been observed for at least two weekends, following Donald Trump’s historic election win on November 5. Beforehand, officers arrested as many as 100 migrants each week, with many heading “southbound.”

Trump, who promised to conduct the largest deportation of illegal migrants in U.S. history upon his inauguration at the end of January, threatened Canada with 25% tariffs on all exports Monday evening should the Trudeau government not address its porous borders.

“Thousands of people are pouring through Mexico and Canada bringing crime and drugs at levels never seen before,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

“On January 20th, as one of my first Executive Orders, I will sign all necessary documents to charge Mexico and Canada a 25 percent tariff on all products coming into the United States and its ridiculous open borders,” he wrote. “The tariff will remain in effect until such time as drugs, in particular fentanyl, and all illegal aliens stop this invasion of our country.”

As reported by CBC News, Trudeau told Trump that Canada has addressed U.S. concerns by strengthening visa requirements for Mexicans and reducing immigration targets.

“If the trend continues, we will have to reassign agents to Lacolle,” warns Yanniv Waknine, third national vice-president of the Customs and Immigration Union.

Some 39,171 illegal immigrants entered Québec through St-Bernard-de-Lacolle in 2022, according to officials with the Department of Immigration. Thousands more now arrive by air, at major airports in Toronto and Montreal. 

Canadian terminals are on pace for another record year, processing 31,000 asylum claims between January and July — three times the number that have been processed at land ports of entry.

Testimony from Roula Eatrides, deputy chair of the refugee protection division at the Immigration Refugee Board, said a single refugee claim takes upwards of 14 months to be processed with a decision rendered. 

“About 70% of our inventory is about a year old, or less than a year,” according to Eatrides.

The division was originally funded to process 60,000 cases annually, but with more than 200,000 pending applications this year, wait times have reached a record-breaking 44 months. 

Meanwhile, some 4.9 million short-term permit holders will see their visas expire from now until next December, prompting heightened concerns about what that would mean for Canada and the United States.

“The vast majority leave,” testified Miller. “In some cases, increasingly I would concede, people decide to choose they are in a situation of irregularity.”

The briefing note, Undocumented Migrants, estimates as many as 500,000 people reside in Canada without status, including illegal immigrants and others who exhausted their appeals. “An undocumented migrant is an individual who has no authorization to reside and/or work in Canada,” said the note.

It was first revealed that Canadian taxpayers paid $224 per day to accommodate illegal asylum claimants, equating to the above-mentioned $81,760 a year — ten times more than Old Age Security pays recipients.

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As President-elect Donald Trump prepares to implement mass deportations of undocumented immigrants, Alexandra Lavoie is committed to uncovering the truth about Canada's readiness and the realities of illegal crossings. To support this investigation, we seek your assistance to cover travel, equipment, and production expenses. Your contribution will enable us to deliver the in-depth reporting that we just can't rely on the mainstream media for. Please donate today to empower our independent journalism.

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Alex Dhaliwal

Calgary Based Journalist

Alex Dhaliwal is a Political Science graduate from the University of Calgary. He has actively written on relevant Canadian issues with several prominent interviews under his belt.

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  • Bruce Atchison
    commented 2024-11-27 20:51:19 -0500
    This tariff might just be the downfall, the final straw, that collapses the Trudeau regime. I hope opposition parties vote non confidence when Canada is plunged into depression.