Bidens arrive in Canada as Joe prepares to strike migration deal trends now
Joe and Jill Biden arrived in Ottawa on Thursday night as the president prepares to cut a deal with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to cut down on the number of migrants crossing the northern boarder and allow Canada to close its Roxham Road crossing.
The U.S. hopes the pact will 'reduce incentives' to cross the border irregularly, the Los Angeles Times reported. As part of the deal, Ottawa will announce 15,000 slots for migrants from the Western Hemisphere to apply to enter Canada legally.
The deal will be announced during Biden's visit. The president arrived Thursday for a whirlwind trip that will find him and Jill dining a la mode with Justin and Sophie Trudeau at their home later in the evening.
On Friday, President Biden has a bilateral meeting with the prime minister, an address Canada's Parliament and a press conference with Trudeau before the Bidens head to Wilmington, Delaware, for the weekend.
The trip is about reassuring America's close ally of their importance and stressing unity on Ukraine but there are underlying issues causing tenions, including migration on the northern border, Canada's reduced defense spending, and how to help Haiti.
President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden arrive in Ottawa
Crossings have increased on the U.S.-Canada border even as the cold weather has made it dangerous with people suffering from hypothermia and exposure as they make their way through the vast, wooden area.
The Swanton Sector, which includes sections of Vermont, New Hampshire and New York, experienced an 846% increase in apprehensions from October 2022 through this January, compared to the year prior.
Canada is also seeing an increase in migrants coming through to their side of the border, particularly at the Roxham Road station.
More than 39,000 refugees entered Canada last year via unofficial crossings, the vast majority via Roxham Road, which links Quebec and New York State.
It is the highest number since 2017 - when there was a spike because of then-President Donald Trump's crackdown on migrants.
'It's not just an issue of migrants crossing from the US to Canada so both countries are motivated to make progress,' a senior Canadian government official said Wednesday in a briefing with reporters.
The issue was a loophole in the Safe Third Country Agreement, which requires asylum-seekers already in the US to petition there rather than show up at a Canadian port of entry.
But that policy does not apply to Roxham Road because it's an unauthorized entry point – literally a road that dead-ends into the border and then picks up on the other side. That is where all these migrants are crossing.
Trudeau said last month the only way to shut down Roxham Road is to renegotiate the Safe Third Country Agreement. That announcement will come during Biden's visit.
Professor Adam Chapnick of Canadian Forces College told DailyMail.com that the northern border is 'huge here in Canada.'
The agreement is part of the Biden administration’s efforts to increase the consequences for people crossing the border illegally.
President Joe Biden speaks as he and first lady Jill Biden meet with Canada's Gov. Gen. Mary Simon, second from right, and her husband Whit Fraser
Asylum seekers, who state they are from Turkey, walk down Roxham Road to cross into Canada from the U.S.