The Trump administration wants to revoke the temporary legal status of more than half a million migrants from Venezuela, Cuba, Haiti and Nicaragua. Venezuelan migrants arrive after being deported from the U.S., in Maiquetia, Venezuela, on April 3.Leonardo Fernandez Viloria/Reuters
Venezuelans facing deportation from the United States under President Donald Trump’s immigration clampdown are seeking routes to Canada, including illegal crossings, according to Canadian immigration consultants.
They say some Venezuelans have already crossed into Canada – both at regular border posts and by slipping across – with others preparing to come here to escape being detained and deported from the U.S.
Hundreds of Venezuelans are facing deportation after Mr. Trump announced plans to end Venezuelans’ special protected status, introduced by the Biden administration, shielding them from deportation. Some with alleged links to gangs have already been detained and deported.
Immigration experts working with the Venezuelan community said Canada is viewed as a top destination for those who do not want to be returned.
The Canadian government does not deport Venezuelans to their home country, which is beset by violent crime.
Annie Beaudoin, a Canadian immigration consultant based in California, said “the end of the U.S. Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for thousands of Venezuelans, Haitians, and other foreign nationals, has translated into an increase in illegal crossings into Canada.”
She said some Venezuelans, including health and construction workers, attempting to come through illegal crossings might qualify for visas to come to Canada.
“Unfortunately, most of these individuals are often not aware that they could legally qualify to properly immigrate to Canada. This would also help them avoid having to resort to unsafe crossing of the Canadian border and without having to file a refugee claim that may have a high risk of refusal,” she said.
She said some are paying large sums to cross illegally through unlicensed professionals or illegal organizations that take advantage of the migrants’ fear and desperation.
An international fact-finding mission last year, in a report posted by the United Nations Human Rights Council, found an escalation of human rights abuses in Venezuela including the arrest of anti-government protesters in their homes by security forces.
Montreal immigration consultant Mario Gabriel de Oliveira Machado, who is originally from Venezuela, said he also has heard from Venezuelans fearing deportation from the U.S., some of whom are considering illegally crossing into Canada. He said he has seen an increase in Venezuelans contacting him from the States since February.
“They include people who want to cross the border to claim asylum to establish themselves in Canada,” he said.
Under the Safe Third Country Agreement, which came into effect in 2004, asylum seekers must make a claim at the first country in which they arrive. The agreement means that most asylum seekers arriving at the Canadian border are automatically returned to the U.S., with some exceptions, including people who have immediate family here.
But migrants entering Canada clandestinely are able to claim asylum if they evade the authorities for 14 days.
Mr. Machado said he was surprised that Venezuelans planning to flee to Canada are knowledgeable about Canada’s asylum rules.
“Some of them wait 14 days and then they submit the refugee application. The fear of being deported is genuine. They just want to feel safe and they try this in Canada,” Mr. Machado said.
One Venezuelan asylum seeker who has come here since Mr. Trump took office sent his children ahead of him, he said. They entered the country on their own at a regular border crossing and were allowed in because they have family here. But the father who tried to enter Canada shortly afterward was sent back to the States, as the family members in Canada were not directly related to him. He then crossed the border illegally and after 14 days claimed asylum.
As the improving weather makes it less hazardous to attempt to cross the vast frontier, the RCMP is continuing to focus its surveillance on parts of the border where migrants try to slip across. It is also preparing to restart boat patrols to apprehend migrants trying to enter via the Great Lakes.
After Mr. Trump criticized Canadian security at the border, the RCMP added new surveillance towers and rented Black Hawk helicopters to patrol the frontier. The RCMP in Ontario said the Black Hawks are continuing to identify and deter people, “attempting to make illegal entry to Canada, now that the weather is becoming more favourable.”
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada data show that in January, 126 people claimed asylum after illegally crossing the border and being apprehended by the RCMP. Another 75 people, some of whom may have crossed the border illegally, claimed asylum at “inland offices” in Quebec, Ontario and British Columbia.
The Trump administration wants to revoke the temporary legal status of more than half a million migrants from Venezuela, Cuba, Haiti and Nicaragua.
The ending of Venezuelans’ temporary protected status, due to start on Monday, was delayed by a U.S. federal court last month, but could come into force later this month, depending on further court action.
The Trump administration has already begun deportations to Caracas, saying the U.S. is being invaded by members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua which it has labelled a foreign terrorist organization.
Among the hundreds deported to Venezuela since Mr. Trump took office, were around 180 who spent up to 16 days at the U.S. naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Around 250 Venezuelans – whom the Trump administration claimed were members of Tren de Aragua – were sent to a high-security prison in El Salvador.
Family members of many of the deported Venezuelan migrants deny their alleged ties to gangs.
On Monday the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Mr. Trump could use a 1798 law to swiftly deport alleged Venezuelan gang members.