Canada and the U.S. have announced they have agreed to reform the Safe Third Country Agreement.

U.S. President Joe Biden is in Ottawa today on an official visit.

Biden arrived in Canada’s capital city last night for a two-day trip.

Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and President Biden are spending time together discussing common interests such as trade, and immigration.

It is the first official visit by a U.S. president since Barack Obama in 2016. Former president Donald Trump never came to Canada for an official visit during his 2017-2021 term. This is Biden’s first official state visit to Canada since he was elected two years ago.

Safe Third Country Agreement:

The two leaders have agreed to reform the Safe Third Country Agreement during their time together. The new terms mean the Agreement will apply to the entire Canada-U.S. border, including at all designated and undesignated ports of entry.

Under the Agreement, refugee claimants are required to request refugee protection in the first safe country they arrive in unless they qualify for an exception to the Agreement.

The agreement applies to claimants who arrive:

• at Canada-U.S. land border crossings
• by train or
• at airports, only if the person seeking refugee protection in Canada has been refused refugee status in the U.S. and is in transit through Canada after being deported from the U.S.

However, it did not apply to unofficial land crossings, such as the widely known Roxham Road which saw over 39,000 unofficial land crossings from the U.S. to Canada in 2022.

This will change as of 12:01 AM Eastern Time tonight. This means that Canada will have the ability to turn away asylum claimants who try to enter the country from undesignated ports of entry.

Canada has also agreed to welcome 15,000 migrants on a humanitarian basis from the Western Hemisphere over the coming year.