Refugee-friendly Canada tightens its border with the United States

Wheeling two enormous suitcases and carrying a bulging shoulder bag, Isaïe Jean-Baptiste, his wife Stephanie and their two-year-old daughter Gloria stand on one side of a shallow ditch. On the other is a member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. “If you come any further you will be crossing into Canada and you will be arrested,” says the Mountie. “Understand?” Mr Jean-Baptiste, an agricultural engineer from Haiti, nods his head and steps forward to be arrested, processed and then admitted into Canada as a refugee.Mr Jean-Baptiste is one of many asylum-seekers who have crossed Roxham Road, an unofficial border point between Quebec and New York state, in the past year. On March 24th, however, Justin Trudeau, Canada’s prime minister, with President Joe Biden to curb such crossings. The two leaders amended a “safe third country” agreement, which previously let Canada send back asylum-seekers to the United States only if they crossed at official border points. Now nearly all asylum-seekers crossing the 8,900km (5,525 mile) border can be sent back to the United States, unless they are an unaccompanied child or have relatives in Canada.