Canada to tighten border security amid Trump's tariff threat: What you need to know | Immigration News

Montreal, Canada – Canada has pledged to beef up security at its border with the United States, days after US President-elect Donald Trump threatened to impose disruptive tariffs in response to drug trafficking and undocumented immigration.

Canada's Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc told reporters Wednesday evening that his government could “invest more” at the border, without providing concrete details.

He also said that Ottawa will impose major restrictions to prevent people from passing through Canada to reach the US without permits.

“We will continue to strengthen the screens in that process to make sure that we continue to have an immigration system and borders that support the integrity and security that Canadians and Americans work for every day,” LeBlanc said.

The minister's words came after a meeting in Ottawa between Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the premiers of the provinces, who have expressed concern and demanded action regarding Trump's tax threats.

In a statement posted on social media on Monday, Trump – who takes office in January – warned Canada and Mexico that he plans to impose a 25 percent tariff on imports from both countries “until such time as drugs, especially Fentanyl, and all illegal aliens. This attack on our country !”

“Both Mexico and Canada have the absolute right and ability to easily resolve this chronic problem,” added the president-elect.

While the crossing of migrants and asylum seekers at the US-Mexico border has drawn international headlines for years, the situation on the northern border of the US and Canada receives much less attention. Here's what you need to know.

How many people cross the US-Canada border?

US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) registered under 199,000 “encounters” at the border with Canada between October 2023 and September of this year.

This includes people caught entering the US illegally, as well as people deemed inadmissible at a port of entry.

By comparison, CBP recorded more than 2.13 million encounters at the US-Mexico border during that period.

What about drug trafficking?

Seizures of drugs at the border are down significantly, according to CBP statistics.

Between October 2023 and September 2024, approximately 5,245kg (11,565 pounds) of drugs – mostly marijuana – were seized by US authorities. That's down from 25,000kg (55,101 pounds) seized in the same period last year.

What immigration laws govern the US-Canada border?

Last year, the US and Canada extended a decades-old agreement to give authorities the power to quickly deport asylum seekers who cross the nations' shared border at illegal ports of entry.

Since 2004, the Safe Third Country Agreement (STCA) has forced asylum seekers to apply for protection in the first country they arrived in – either the US or Canada, but not both.

But the loophole allowed people to seek protection when they arrived in Canada. Thousands of asylum seekers crossed into Canada during Trump's first term in office amid a wave of anti-immigrant policies.

Now, the STCA operates along the entire US-Canada border, which extends to 6,416km (3,987 miles), and people can be turned back between ports of entry.

Who is trying to enter the US through Canada?

In recent months, as border controls have been tightened, citizens of countries that do not require permission to enter Canada are using the country as a transit point to try to get to the United States.

Last year, the media reported that the administration of US President Joe Biden asked Canada to impose visa requirements for Mexicans amid an increase in crossings at the northern border.

Ottawa reinstated visa procedures in February to respond to what it said was a surge in asylum applications from Mexican citizens.

Meanwhile, asylum seekers who have had their protection claims rejected by Canada have also sought to cross into the US in recent years – sometimes with the help of human smugglers, and sometimes with deadly consequences.

In 2023, a family whose application for asylum in Canada was rejected drowned while trying to cross to the US by boat. They were facing deportation to Romania. Their bodies were found in the St Lawrence River.

In January 2022, a family from India also froze to death in Manitoba – a province in central Canada – after trying to reach the US on foot during freezing winter weather.

So is this situation really worth Trump's tax threat?

That depends on who you ask.

Both American and Canadian lawmakers have urged their governments to do more to deal with the situation at the border.

For example, in September, a bipartisan group of US senators introduced legislation to “enhance security” at the border with Canada. The bill would require the Department of Homeland Security to conduct a “Northern Border Threat Analysis” and review its strategy there.

“Threats to our northern border are constantly evolving, so must our strategy to combat these threats,” said Senator Maggie Hassan, a Democrat who sponsored the measure, in a statement. His home state, New Hampshire, sits on the border.

“This bipartisan bill will strengthen law enforcement efforts to stop the transnational criminal organizations that flood our streets with fentanyl and other deadly drugs.”

What are Canadian politicians saying?

While most Canadian politicians have pushed back on Trump's prospect of a 25 percent tariff – saying such a move would cause job losses and trigger an economic downturn – a group of right-wing prime ministers said the US president-elect was raising “legitimate” concerns about the border.

“The federal government needs to take this situation at our border seriously,” Ontario Premier Doug Ford said in a press release this week. He called on Canada to impose retaliatory tariffs against the US if Trump went ahead with his plans.

Francois Legault, Quebec's premier who has called for stricter border crackdowns amid an influx of asylum seekers to the French-speaking province, said he had asked for a “detailed strategy” from the federal government to “better protect the borders”.

“That would reduce illegal immigration to Quebec and avoid Mr. Trump's 25% tariffs,” Legault wrote in X. Last month, he also suggested that Canada should forcibly transfer tens of thousands of asylum seekers from Quebec to other parts of the country.

The pressure on Trudeau, who has been in power since 2015, comes as the Canadian prime minister has seen his popularity plummet amid the housing crisis and rising cost of living.

The latest polls show his Liberals trailing far behind the opposition Conservative Party ahead of a federal election due to be held before the end of October 2025.

Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre has seized on the border issue to criticize the prime minister. “Justin Trudeau broke the line,” Poilievre told reporters on Thursday. “All the chaos on our border is the result of Justin Trudeau.”

What do human rights lawyers say?

Julia Sande, human rights law and policy campaigner at Amnesty International Canada, said the US president-elect's comments this week about the US-Canada border were “deliberately vague” and unclear.

“People who cross the border are being talked about. Are we talking about asylum seekers? He talks about illegal activities; obviously, crossing to seek asylum is illegal,” Sande told Al Jazeera.

“And it is because of the Safe Third Country Agreement that people are forced to cross between ports of entry to seek safety,” he added.

“It's one thing when we talk about the flow of drugs, but when we bring people together and you use words like 'illegal alien', I hope politicians will oppose that.”

Alex Neve, a professor of international human rights law at the University of Ottawa, also said it was “deeply troubling” to see Canadian leaders “going along with Trump's inflammatory, border-bullying narrative”.

“Suddenly number one in Canada is 'protecting' the Canada/US border, because Donald Trump said it had to be. It doesn't seem to matter that the numbers don't even remotely reflect his hateful fear,” Nive wrote on social media.

“This rhetoric of illegal immigration, which governments around the world are increasingly talking about, reflects badly on refugees and migrants, with real life and death consequences, and buying into it makes us part of the problem.”