A Winnipeg-based immigration lawyer says the U.S. policy of separating child migrants from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border has had a trickle-down effect in Canada.
Alastair Clarke said one of the children recently held in detention in the U.S. is now in Winnipeg with her father, but Clarke said the girl’s mother has been separated from them and is now in hiding in their home country.
“These cases are heartbreaking,” said Clarke. “I recently had a two-year-old girl in my own office, screaming for her mother and the United States deported her mother back to Ghana.”
“She’s been separated, she doesn’t understand what’s going on,” said Clarke referring to the two-year-old girl. “So now her father, he is basically acting as a single father with her in Canada, is trying to number one: make his case for refugee status, number two: take care of this young child and number three: he is separated from the mother of the child. They’re not legally married which was part of the problem.”
The “zero-tolerance policy” has been condemned worldwide and on Wednesday U.S. president Donald Trump signed an executive order to keep migrant families together.
Under the policy, asylum seekers who illegally cross into the U.S. are charged with federal crimes and then separated from their children who are held in detention centres.
However, Clarke doesn’t see the policy, which has dominated headlines, causing a spike in the number of asylum cases in Manitoba or Canada.
“The communities are well aware on how to walk across the border, the routes are very well-tread,” said Clarke. “If you as a refugee claimant in the United States want to come to Canada, they know how to do it.”
Razak Iyal gained refugee status in Canada last spring after losing fingers and toes to frostbite while crossing the Manitoba border from the U.S.
He said images of children in detention centres are difficult to see.
“How could you separate the family,” said Iyal. “That’s the problem because, the kids, what did they do?”
Winnipeg Mayor Brian Bowman also weighed in on the issue.
“I’m watching like many Canadians with disgust with what we’re south of the border,” said Bowman. “We’re a country that continues to welcome newcomers from every part of the globe and my role as mayor of the City of Winnipeg is to send a very clear message to Winnipeggers and citizens across our country that Winnipeg is a community that welcomes families.”
The Canadian Council for Refugees has called on the federal government to withdraw from the Safe Third Country Agreement because it says the United States is violating the rights of refugees and cannot be considered a safe country for refugees.
