The Guardian claims Americans are moving to Canada in record numbers, but it seems they’re counting a lot of non-Americans in that number — non-Americans that Canada doesn’t really want.
“In 2017, some 2,550 U.S. citizens applied for asylum in Canada – an increase of more than sixfold from 2016 and the largest such number since at least 1994, according to data from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada,” the left-leaning British paper reported Wednesday,
But although there are “U.S. Citizens” migrating to Canada, they aren’t who you think they are. Most of the American political “refugees” aren’t liberal celebrities seeking relief from Donald Trump or even disgruntled Americans sick of the president’s politics.
Instead, they’re the minor, American-born children of non-citizens — often illegal immigrants — whose parents might find themselves on the wrong side of the Trump administration’s stricter immigration policies. The parents use the children as a way of obtaining asylum north of the border, even though neither they nor their kids are likely entitled to it.
“Most of the Americans applying for refugee status are the children of non-residents,” an immigration lawyer told the Guardian. “They are US citizens because they were born there, but they come across the border with their parents because they don’t want to be separated.”
In some cases, those children are as young as three months. The couple the Guardian spoke to moved with a newborn after the Trump administration announced an end to “temporary protected status” for Haitian immigrants, a short-term immigration visa previous administrations issued for Haitians who needed to care for children or work while their home country was recovering from an earthquake. The Trump administration, though, claimed immigrants on these TPS visas were overstaying their welcome and using the TPS as an excuse to remain in the U.S. indefinitely.
But there’s also another problem: if the United States’ immigration policy is strict, it’s nothing compared to Canada’s, where naturalization can take more than a decade — only if you meet Canada’s strict qualifications for immigration, namely that you’ll give more to Canada than you take from it.
The couple in the Guardian’s story said they fled to Canada because Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, in a tweet, promised a safe haven for refugees both from and turned down by the United States. But like many “refugees,” they’re finding that the Prime Minister’s welcoming message was overly optimistic. Canada doesn’t tolerate illegal immigration, and anyone who claims asylum in Canada must undergo a grueling set of hearings.
Most asylum-seekers are turned down. Many are deported. And, after handling a record influx of asylum seekers following Trudeau’s tweet, the Canadian government is looking for ways to cut down on the number of asylum requests they grant.
Canada may have a reputation for being the “safe haven” from American Republicans, but it doesn’t live up to it.