Posted on 06/28/2002 6:03:55 PM PDT by WakeUpChristian
Border deal targets refugees
By ALLAN WOODS
Canada will be allowed to reject refugee claimants coming across the border from the United States as a result of an agreement signed Friday by Deputy Prime Minister John Manley and U.S. Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge.
The safe third-country accord will also help ensure that terrorists cannot slip across the border into either country, a fear that gained prominence in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States.
"We're well on our way to a smart border for the 21st century," Mr. Manley said at a news conference on the Peace Bridge in Niagara Falls. "One that's open to business but closed to terrorists."
Refugees jam border fearing new policy The accord, which was long resisted by the Americans, will ensure "more effective and equitable assessments of refugee claims" and will focus on those "who are genuinely in need of asylum," he said.
The agreement, which was signed in principle by the two countries, meets a United Nations convention that says no country is obliged to accept asylum seekers arriving from a nation where they face no persecution. Citizenship and Immigration Minister Denis Coderre said the final agreement will be signed in a few weeks.
Speaking at a news conference in Montreal later in the day, Mr. Coderre said the new strategies — including the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, which also came into effect Friday — do not close Canada's borders.
"It strikes a balance between openness and vigilance," Mr. Coderre said in French. "It's clear we need immigrants to boost the population."
The new law will bar previously rejected refugee applicants from applying a second time. It will also let immigration officials move quickly to remove from the country those applicants with prior criminal convictions.
Mr. Coderre said that six out of 10 immigrants trying to enter the country come through the U.S. with an American visa. He said supporting that flow unfairly burdens Canada.
Mr. Ridge and Mr. Manley also outlined details of a 30-point smart border accord, a plan intended to streamline border crossings for legitimate businesses, tourists and low-risk travellers while simultaneously clamping down on terrorists, they said.
"We're not simply neighbours who share a border," Mr. Ridge said. "We're friends who share values, including freedom — something that terrorists hate."
The accord was initiated in December as a response to terrorism and an attempt to manage what both country's once boasted was the world's longest undefended border, while ensuring the benefits both countries get from cross-border trade remains unaffected.
It includes a program called Free And Secure Trade, or FAST, which will dedicated lanes for trucks that regularly cross the border. NEXUS, another plan, involves pre-screening low-risk travellers to ease their crossing and prevent border delays.
The Canadian Chamber of Commerce, an advocate for Canadian business, issued a statement Friday endorsing the announcement.
"There is no question that business needs these measures to get their goods and people across the border efficiently," said Nancy Hughes Anthony, President and CEO of the organization "However, getting the measures in place quickly is the priority."
The NEXUS program should be in place by the fall and will be running by January of 2003, Mr. Ridge said.
"Both our leaders believe homeland security makes our countries not only stronger and better, but safer as well," he said.
For years, Washington has argued against such an accord on the basis that the United States would end up with the bulk of the refugee claimants, since almost three-quarters of those arriving in Canada come from the U.S.
The U.S. is working on an identical program with Mexico, its neighbour to the south.
Canada has already introduced several measures to increase its security in response to the U.S. attacks, when it was sharply criticized as a breeding ground for terrorists.
For example, it has already launched Integrated National Border Enforcement Teams — forces made up of federal, provincial and municipal officials — to share intelligence at border points across the country.
With files from Canadian Press
Mexico official: U.S. policy leading to deaths on border
By EDWARD HEGSTROM
Copyright 2002 Houston Chronicle
Using some of the strongest language yet to demand an amnesty for illegal immigrant workers, Mexican Foreign Minister Jorge G. Castañeda suggested Wednesday that U.S. policy is responsible for the death of Mexicans at the border.
Castañeda, speaking before the League of United Latin American Citizens annual convention here, called on the U.S. government to reopen talks to "regularize" the status of the estimated 3 million Mexicans who live in the United States illegally. Negotiations on an immigration deal between the two governments progressed throughout the summer of 2001 but broke down after Sept. 11.
That has meant a continuation of the status quo, which Castañeda says is unacceptable.
"Let us recognize a self-evident truth," he said. "So far, U.S. immigration policies have failed to reduce undocumented migration from Mexico and instead have fostered a dangerous and even deadly black market in human beings. Many Mexicans, who want nothing more than to work hard and help their families, have died trying to enter the United States."
But even as he blasted U.S. immigration practices, Castañeda acknowledged that it would likely be 2003 before the Mexican government can get Washington to return to the table for meaningful discussions. He said it would be difficult to obtain a deal in a U.S. election year.
Before Sept. 11, Castañeda famously suggested that Mexico would settle only for the "whole enchilada," by which he meant that the government wanted a comprehensive plan to deal with cross-border migration. This included allowing illegal immigrant Mexicans to obtain visas as well as establishing new programs to bring yet more Mexican workers from across the border.
But on Wednesday, Castañeda suggested that his government is now willing to accept a more gradual process.
He noted that by lobbying local governments in the United States, the Mexican government has managed to make it easier for illegal immigrants to live a more normal life. The Mexicans have pushed to get their citizens proper identification and access to college, he noted.
Some of these efforts have paid off locally. Houston police now recognize an ID card issued by the Mexican government, as do some banks. The state Legislature passed a bill last session allowing illegal immigrants to get in-state tuition at colleges, provided they are graduates of a Texas high school. The Legislature also passed a bill allowing illegal immigrants to get a driver's license, though it was vetoed by Gov. Rick Perry.
Human rights groups have frequently suggested that U.S. policy has caused deaths along the border, a contention that is also supported by the authors of a University of Houston study. Researchers say that by making it more difficult for migrants to cross in urban areas of the border, the U.S. government has forced them to cross at the more dangerous points, such as the Arizona desert, where at least 53 illegal entrants are known to have died since October.
But David V. Aguilar, chief of the Tuscon sector of the U.S. Border Patrol, said his agents are trained to save lives, something they frequently do.
"A managed border is a safe border," he said at an earlier LULAC seminar.
Castañeda's speech culminated a day of seminars probing the effects of Sept. 11 on immigration. The panelists, almost all of whom favored high levels of immigration, called on the government to find ways to fight terrorism without jeopardizing the lives of law-abiding foreign citizens.
A number of new restrictions on immigrants have been implemented since Sept. 11. Bills approved by Congress call for more immigration agents, improving monitoring of foreign students and adding new high-tech visas that make it easier to track when a foreigner enters and leaves the United States.
But panelists said they were most worried by the actions of Attorney General John Ashcroft, who has implemented several policy changes at the Department of Justice that do not need congressional approval.
Ashcroft has called for tracking down more than 300,000 illegal immigrants who remain in the country after being ordered deported.
No it hasn't. They chose to cross themselves. No one dragged them.
A little accountability would be nice here! No wonder liberals want more of them. Like minds attract! Always "the victim" of something.
What a crock! Mexico is digging her own grave. No pun intended.
He, and Mexicans like him, are blaming us for their self-created situation.
Man, are these people ever in denial!!
DITTO !!
This "identiical" program is probably wide-open borders. Why aren't we dealing with Mexico right now? Oh yes, I forget, we'll have to wait until after the elections so there will not be reelection fallout. How I forget how our politicians have America's best interests in hand.
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