Canada’s policies force asylum seekers into US to face deportation, critics say
A Honduran family fleeing gang violence was turned away at the Canadian border under the Safe Third Country Agreement and deported from the US. Human rights groups are challenging the practice in court.
A Honduran couple with their young son fled gang violence in Honduras in 2021, traveling through Guatemala and Mexico in hope of reaching safety in the United States. However, as Donald Trump’s migration crackdown began, their chance to claim asylum vanished. A lawyer warned that appealing could lead to detention and deportation.
Because the husband had relatives in Canada, the family pushed farther north. At the Fort Erie border crossing, a Canadian officer offered a stark choice: let the husband and child enter but send the wife back to the US, or have all three return to the US and risk detention and deportation. The family chose to stay together and were sent back, eventually deported to Honduras.
The Canadian Council for Refugees, Amnesty International Canada, and the three Hondurans have filed a court challenge, arguing that Canadian border officials are failing to uphold court-ordered safeguards for asylum seekers before returning them to the US under the Safe Third Country Agreement (STCA). The STCA, in effect since 2004, requires migrants to claim asylum in the first safe country they reach.
Advocacy groups increasingly argue that the US cannot be considered safe, pointing to long-term detention of refugees and threats of deportation to dangerous countries. At the same time, Canada is tightening its own asylum system with new eligibility rules, which critics label "Trump-style" immigration policies.
In 2023, Canada’s Supreme Court upheld the STCA, stating that its “safety valves”—including discretion to exempt someone from return on humanitarian grounds—align with fundamental justice. However, activists say these valves exist only in theory, as asylum seekers are rarely informed of the exemption option and must decide without legal counsel.
Canada’s border agency said officers have limited discretion in “exceptional cases only” to delay removal, requiring credible evidence of death, inhumane treatment, or deportation without due process. The federal government defends the US as safe and notes the allegations have not been tested in court.
Carlos, Antonia, and their now six-year-old son are in hiding in Honduras, fearing retaliation from the same gang they fled. “The hardest thing has been trying to explain this all to our son. From one day to the next, everything was turned upside down for him,” said Carlos.
