Quebec, U.S. governments have been calling for visas to be reinstated
The federal government is reimposing some visa requirements on Mexican nationals visiting Canada, a senior government source tells Radio-Canada
The new rules will take effect on 11:30 p.m. ET on Thursday
Quebec Premier François Legault has been calling on the federal government to do more to slow the influx of asylum seekers into his province. Last week, he said Ottawa should bring back the visa requirement for Mexican travellers
The possibility of entering Canada from Mexico without a visa certainly explains part of the influx of asylum seekers
the premier wrote in a letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau
More than 25,000 Mexicans applied for asylum in Canada last year, making Mexico the top source of asylum claims, according to statistics from the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada. The number of backlogged claims from Mexico currently filed with the board sits at more than 28,000.
The U.S. government also has been asking Ottawa to bring back the visa requirement to curb a sharp increase in illegal crossings from Canada into the United States
Mexicans currently don’t need a visa to travel to Canada, but they do have to obtain visas to enter the U.S. American border officials say some Mexican nationals are using Canada’s visa-free rule to fly into the country and then cross illegally into the United States
The new visa requirement is expected to affect roughly 40 per cent of all Mexican travellers to Canada, a government source told Radio-Canada
The Conservative government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper imposed a visa requirement on Mexico in 2009 to stem the flow of asylum claims. The Trudeau government relaxed it in 2016
The new rules won’t amount to a complete return to the pre-2016 rules. Mexican nationals with certain types of U.S. visas and those coming to Canada on study or work permits won’t have to obtain Canadian visas
Mexican nationals who received valid visas under the previous system at any point within the last ten years won’t have to reapply under the new requirements
The new visas will apply for a ten-year period and will allow a traveller to enter Canada multiple times and stay for up to six months at a time. Customs officers will have discretionary power to limit the duration of the visa or the number of visits, the source said
The government isn’t expected to announce the new visa requirements until Thursday
But on Wednesday, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador accused Canada of attempting to act unilaterally on immigration measures
They are in negotiations to reach an agreement so that we can control migratory flows from Canada
he said in Spanish during a press conference
We have acted generously with them, with the government of Prime Minister Trudeau, but they were already on the verge of applying unilateral measures
López Obrador also said he may not attend the next North American Leaders summit — set to take place in Canada — if he feels Canada and the U.S. aren’t treating his country fairly
If there’s no respectful treatment, I won’t go
he said
Legault has said asylum seekers are putting heavy pressure on Quebec’s social services and finances
Asylum seekers have trouble finding a place to live, which contributes to accentuating the housing crisis
the premier said in his letter to TrudeauMany end up in homeless shelters, which are overflowing
He said organizations that help asylum seekers can’t keep up with the demand. Legault said the children of asylum seekers are also straining the resources of schools already facing shortages of teachers and space
Legault’s letter said asylum seekers who are waiting for work permits receive financial assistance from Quebec. Last October, he said, roughly 43,200 asylum seekers received $33 million in aid from the province
Quebec Immigration Minister Christine Fréchette welcomed the news but said Ottawa must still do more
It’s an important step forward, but it won’t solve everything. The number of asylum seekers accepted by Quebec is far too high and our services are beyond capacity
she told reporters Thursday in French
The federal government must distribute the asylum seekers across Canada. Quebec bears a disproportionate share of the responsibility for receiving them
U.S. officials have suggested that people who can’t get into the U.S. lawfully have an incentive to travel to Canada to try entering illegally. Human smuggling networks are cashing in, moving people who are fleeing poverty and violence in Mexico and using Canada as a pitstop on the way to the U.S
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) data shows a spike in migrants entering the U.S. from Canada after Trudeau lifted the visa requirement in December 2016. There were 1,169 apprehensions of Mexicans the year before the requirements were lifted; the number nearly doubled to 2,245 in 2018, a year after the requirements were lifted
Last year, the CBP recorded 4,868 apprehensions. Nearly 2,000 Mexicans have been apprehended at the Canada-U.S. border in the first four months of this fiscal year
Those numbers are a tiny fraction of the number of apprehensions along the U.S.-Mexico border — nearly 580,000 last year. But the rise in apprehensions at the Canada-U.S. border was enough for U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to raise the issue during his visit to Ottawa last spring
We talk about this issue and many issues that impact the migration of people
Mayorkas said in an interview with CBC News Network’s Rosemary Barton Live at the time
I think that’s a decision that the Canadian officials are going to make
Mayorkas told host Rosemary Barton when asked about the prospect of Ottawa reinstating the visa program
With files from Philip Ling and The Canadian Press
