Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said today the Trump administration's policy of separating illegal migrants from their children is "wrong," just hours before the U.S. president signed an executive order pledging to maintain family unity.
The move came as global outrage continues to build over the Trump administration policy that has led to the detention of more than 2,000 children as their parents are criminally charged. Images of children in cages, sleeping under foil blankets, have sparked condemnation from public figures around the world, including Pope Francis.
Retreating from the separation policy today, President Donald Trump said he didn't like the "sight or feeling" of children being taken from their parents.
"The border is just as tough, but we want to keep families together," Trump said after signing the executive order at the White House.
The order says that it is now the policy of his administration to maintain family unity, "including by detaining alien families together where appropriate and consistent with law and available resources."
"It is unfortunate that Congress's failure to act and court orders have put the administration in the position of separating alien families to effectively enforce the law," it adds.
Earlier today, Trudeau added his voice to those denouncing the detention policy.
"What's going on in the United States is wrong," Trudeau said in brief remarks to reporters Wednesday in Ottawa. "I can't imagine what the families living through this are enduring. Obviously, this is not the way we do things in Canada."
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau addressed policy of separating children from parents as he arrived for his weekly caucus meeting. 0:23
It was Trudeau's first direct criticism of Trump's policy directive. When pressed by the NDP earlier this week, the prime minister called on the opposition to stop playing politics with the issue.
Immigration Minister Ahmed Hussen said again today that the government is monitoring the impact of the child separation policy, but also criticized the practice.
Hussen has said that both Canada and the U.S., along with the UN's refugee agency, are conducting ongoing analysis of the Safe Third Country Agreement (STCA), a Canada/U.S. pact meant to stem the flow of illegal migration across the joint border. He said he could not provide any time frame for the review.
In the past, the minister has said the 14-year-old agreement — which requires that migrants crossing the Canada/U.S. border make their refugee claims in the first "safe" country they come to, whether it's Canada or the U.S. — is working in Canada's interests but should be modernized.
According to data provided to CBC News by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, 1,949 asylum seekers were turned back at official border points in 2017 — were refused entry to Canada under the STCA.
That's up dramatically from previous years. In 2016, 731 were refused; in 2015, 418 were turned away and in 2014 just 456 were denied entry.
The family separations began earlier this year after U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced a new "zero tolerance" policy of referring those crossing the border illegally for federal criminal prosecution — which results in children being separated from their parents.
The policy has renewed calls from human rights groups, refugee lawyers and the NDP to suspend the STCA.
Independent Sen. Ratna Omidvar, an internationally recognized Canadian expert in migration, said Tuesday the recent change in U.S. policy has convinced her that the STCA should be suspended.
"This new policy of baby-snatching, as some people have called it, has led me to conclude now that the United States is not a safe place for children of asylum seekers, and therefore not a country that we can have an agreement on safety for refugees, " Omidvar said.
"However, we cannot simply make a grandiose gesture of cancelling the agreement without backing it up with significant renewal and resourcing of the Immigration and Refugee Board."
Hussen has said the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act requires Canada to monitor U.S. domestic policy to make sure that any changes in its asylum system continue to meet criteria for designation as a safe country.
Conservative immigration critic Michelle Rempel said she is "deeply concerned" by the reports from the U.S., but said it's up to the government to evaluate whether it remains a safe country for asylum seekers.
She said the Americans must answer for their own immigration policies, but Canada must start pushing for stronger laws that would limit the corruption and gang violence that are driving many from their home countries.
"Can we always continue to advocate for compassion? Yes. Should we be putting more of an emphasis on Canada pushing back on some of the determinants of migration? Yes. Should we be putting in place a plan to deal with the fact that we've got tens of thousands of people trying to enter Canada? Yes."
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh said the Liberal government should immediately suspend the STCA as the U.S. has made it "absolutely clear" the country is no longer safe for asylum seekers under the Trump administration. He said Trudeau's response took too long and was timid.
"To separate kids from their parents is an act that is so deplorable and so inhumane, it speaks to a complete corruption in morality of this administration," he said. "It is just so heinous."
HammerTime3850 on June 20th, 2018 at 20:07 UTC »
Aren’t Canada’s asylum policies much more stringent than ours?
snoboreddotcom on June 20th, 2018 at 16:59 UTC »
I think what stuns me more for someone speaking out against it was Marine Le Pen of France's national front saying she thought it was wrong. That was far more damning
Edit: So I wasn't expecting this to reach top comment but it has. As I've seen a lot of misinformation about this topic on both sides I'd like to add a little bit to clarify whats going on to people by copying a portion of what I wrote elsewhere. I know its bad form to add this much on in an edit, but it seems necessary given the confusion. If you would like to downvote what I have to say here but not the original comment I've added a subcomment for doing so
" So there are three actual issues going on here and people on both sides seem to not be able to differentiate them causing the confusion. The first is the 1500 lost children stat. That stat was not children taken by the government at the border but instead the number who had been placed with foster families for other reasons and then were having trouble locating them, cause of moves of families and the like. Understandable if annoying, and not the fault of the administration.
The second issue is the issue of separation at the border to begin with. Is it ethical or not, should it be done, how should it be done etc. This was going on in the Obama administration, though in a more limited way. Separations were occurring for those with criminal records beyond just the crime of border crossing. This was done under the justification of them presenting a risk to the child and attempting to prevent trafficking. This leads into number three.
The third issue is that a month and a half ago justice department policy was switched at the top. It was now ordered that they treat the crime of border crossing in the same way regarding separations, in order to make families more fearful of making the trip. this was not policy during the Obama administration, and is the key issue referenced by this article. Much more tricky than for those with established records.
However the first issue is the one that took off with people misinterpreting it as them having lost the kids from the third because it broke a couple weeks after the order from Sessions. The third was then seen by some as actually about the 2nd being put into place. This overall has led to a lot of confused messaging"
PiperCahill on June 20th, 2018 at 15:45 UTC »
This is a change in tone for the Liberal government, which had been shying away from directly criticizing the actions of President Donald Trump.
When pressed in question period this week, Immigration Minister Ahmed Hussen said "all Canadians are troubled by the images coming out of the U.S.," while calling the safe third country agreement managing asylum affairs between the U.S. and Canada "a very good agreement."
The family separations began earlier this year after U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced a new "zero tolerance" policy of referring border crossings for federal criminal prosecution, which leads to children being separated as their parents are sent to jail.