The vast majority of the people who crossed the Canada-U.S. border irregularly last year will not be permitted to stay, a federal minister confirmed on Monday, but numbers provided by the Canada Border Services Agency suggest very few have so far been forced to leave.
“We estimate that a bit more than 90 per cent of irregular migrants do not meet our criteria (to claim asylum), and that they must leave,” said Transport Minister Marc Garneau in French at a media briefing in Montreal.
Garneau was referring mainly to the Haitian nationals who crossed last summer, the government later clarified. The people coming this spring, in contrast, have been mainly from Nigeria, and their acceptance rate may be different, given the security situation in their home country.
According to the office of Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale, who was also at Monday’s briefing, the Canada Border Services Agency has removed a total of 243 irregular migrants since April 2017.
In that same time span, approximately 26,250 irregular migrants have crossed the Canada-U.S. border between legal checkpoints, meaning that while a majority may not qualify to remain here, only about one per cent of them have so far been removed.
Garneau said on Monday that another 200 will be leaving in the next two weeks.
“Prior to removal, individuals may seek leave for judicial review, as well as administrative review procedures that assess the potential risk to the person of returning to the country of origin,” explained Scott Bardsley, spokesperson for Goodale’s office.