How Trump’s promise of mass deportations could affect Canada’s border
Relatively minor changes to U.S. immigration policy in 2017 caused the Roxham Road phenomenon
It was 2017 when Canadians first began to hear of an obscure border crossing near Hemmingford, Que., that was witnessing an unusually high number of illegal crossings on foot.
Large numbers of Haitians, many of them families dragging heavy suitcases, were flying from homes in Florida and New York City to upstate Plattsburgh, N.Y., and then taking a taxi to the tiny farming community of Mooers, N.Y.
Roxham Road would soon become a major news story and a political issue.
In March last year, Canada and the U.S. agreed to the first major change to the Safe Third Country Agreement (STCA) in 20 years, expanding its terms to cover the entire land border rather than just formal crossings.
That STCA expansion effectively ended Roxham Road’s usefulness to migrants as an end-run around that system.
But one lesson from the Roxham Road experience remains highly relevant and concerning in light of former U.S. president Donald Trump’s promise to deport millions of immigrants if he wins a second term: any changes to the status of undocumented migrants in the U.S. can be swiftly felt at the Canadian border.
