Canadian Court Invalidates U.S.-Canada Safe Third Country Agreement

On July 23, 2020, the American Immigration Council's blog, Immigration Impact, reported [link] that the Federal Court of Canada has ruled that notwithstanding the Safe Third Country agreement between the United States and Canada, the United States is no longer a country to which Canada may return asylum seekers. The agreement, which has been in place since 2002, generally requires asylum seekers who arrive in the United States or Canada to seek asylum in whichever country they arrive in. It is designed to prohibit asylum-seekers from passing through the United States to Canada or through Canada to the United States to seek asylum.

The Federal Court of Canada delayed implementation of the decision for six months — until January 22, 2021 — to give the Canadian Parliament the opportunity to consider the ramifications of the ruling and respond with legislation. At this time, it unclear when and how Canada may implement the decision or how dissolving the United States-Canada Safe Third Country agreement may affect U.S. asylum policy. We will update site with more pertinent information about the issue if and when it becomes available.

You may learn more about U.S. asylum law in our growing section on the subject [see section].