In order to reject asylum seekers at unauthorized border crossings, the US and Canada have reached an agreement, according to officials.

On Friday, during Biden's visit to Ottawa, US President Joe Biden and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will make the announcement. Asylum seekers traveling in either direction are anticipated to be turned away by officials on both sides of the border thanks to the agreement.

Migrant crossings from Canada to the US side have increased as well. The action is a component of efforts to control a migrant influx at Roxham Road, an unauthorized border crossing between the states of New York and Quebec.

According to unnamed US officials speaking to CBS News, the BBC's US partner, Canada will establish a new refugee program for 15,000 migrants fleeing persecution and violence in South and Central America as part of the agreement.

For 24 hours, Biden will be in Ottawa, Canada, to meet with Trudeau and discuss a number of economic, trade, and immigration-related issues. The announcement of the migration agreement is planned for before his Friday arrival in the US.

The agreement modifies the two parties' Safe Third Country Agreement from 2004, which mandates that migrants file for asylum in the first "safe" country they arrive in, whether that be the US or Canada.

The new agreement would close a gap in the Safe Third Country Agreement that allowed Canada to refuse entry to people using unauthorized crossing points.

Due to the loophole, immigrants from places like Roxham Road entered Canada.

Last month, officials in New York City announced that they were giving away free bus tickets to help migrants get to the US-Canada border.

According to reports, talks on the new border agreement between the US and Canada have been deadlocked for months. According to reports, US officials were unwilling to rework the agreement because their nation was mired in its own migrant crisis at the US-Mexico border.

By making it more difficult for migrants to request asylum once Covid border controls are lifted in May, the Biden administration has also proposed to crack down on asylum seekers at the southern US border with Mexico. The proposal has drawn criticism from human rights organizations.

The new US-Canada agreement could go into effect right away because US Congress approval is not necessary. Trudeau has argued that renegotiating the Safe Third Country Agreement is the only way to stop unauthorized border crossings at Roxham Road.

Source: BBC