Ottawa and Washington have reached an agreement to prevent thousands of people from entering Canada irregularly from the United States, a senior US official said.
The same source indicated that the Canadian authorities will commit to receiving 15,000 migrants from the American continent over the next year, in accordance with the Los Angeles Declaration on migration and protection that the United States, Canada and 18 other countries of the continent signed during the Summit of the Americas last year.
In exchange, Washington will agree to modify the Safe Third Country Agreement, which governs refugee claims between Canada and the United States, so that Ottawa can turn away irregular migrants.
Currently, a legal loophole in the agreement prevents the expulsion of irregular migrants who seek refuge in Canada.
In 2022 alone, 40,000 people entered Canada through Roxham Road, a point on the border between the state of New York and the Canadian province of Quebec.
In December it emerged that the New York authorities were facilitating the transport of thousands of people to Roxham Road to get rid of migrants in the city.
The Quebec government and the opposition Conservative Party of Canada have said the arrival of tens of thousands of migrants is unsustainable and have demanded that Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau close Roxham Road.
Details of the deal are expected to be announced by US President Joe Biden and Trudeau on Friday, following a bilateral meeting the two will hold in Ottawa.
Biden arrived in Canada today, on his first official visit to the country, to discuss with Trudeau, among other issues, the migratory flow between the two countries, the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the humanitarian crisis in Haiti.
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