Tuesday: MPs Consider Motion on Asylum Seekers

Tuesday: MPs Consider Motion on Asylum Seekers

UPDATED April 24, 2018 4:55pmET

Conservatives have an opposition day to introduce a motion in the House of Commons. Today’s debate is on the latest wave of asylum seekers crossing the U.S. border into Canada between ports of entry.

Nearly 6,400 people have crossed as “irregular migrants” between Jan. 1 and Apr. 15, mostly at the Roxham Road opening in Quebec, according to federal officials who briefed journalists last week. Many of those crossing in 2018 have been Nigerian nationals who obtained U.S. visas.

Watch the debate:

Here is the full motion:

That, given the government’s failure to address the crisis created by the influx of thousands of illegal border crossers travelling across our southern border between ports of entry, that the agencies responsible for dealing with this crisis have found gaps in security screening for newly arrived refugee claimants, as well as a backlog in both scheduled hearings and carrying out deportation orders, and that this trend is expected to increase over the summer months; the House call on the government to:

(a) ensure the agencies responsible for our borders are properly equipped so that they can continue to do their jobs effectively and that those arriving at Canadian borders go through the appropriate processes;

(b) admit the Prime Minister’s irresponsibility of tweeting #WelcometoCanada to those seeking to enter Canada through illegal means;

(c) take responsibility for the massive social services costs burdening the provincial governments; and

(d) table in the House no later than May 11, 2018, a plan to (i) stop the influx of people illegally entering Canada from the United States, (ii) take appropriate measures to handle those who have already claimed asylum.

Conservative MPs Michelle Rempel and Pierre Paul-Hus discussed the motion with reporters this morning:

The February federal budget proposed $173 million for border security and processing resources over the next two years.

Conservative and NDP MPs used today’s question period to press Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on the issue:

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MPs also consider Andrew Scheer’s private member’s bill on a tax credit for new parents. The Conservative leader’s bill (C-394) would exempt EI maternity and parental benefits from federal income tax.

-Andrew Thomson

TOP PHOTO: An RCMP officer, standing in Saint-Bernard-de-Lacolle, Que. in August 2017, advises migrants that they are about to illegally cross from Champlain, N.Y., and will be arrested. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS/Charles Krupa