Canada may face legal trouble if U.S. deports asylum seekers turned away from Canada: refugee advocates

​#Canada; #AsylumSeekers; #U.S.; #AmnestyInternationalCanada; #NonRefoulement

​Ottawa, Mar 28 (Canadian-Media): There is a fear of Canada's facing legal problems if asylum seekers turned away by Canada are deported by the United States (U.S.) as part of a deal with the U.S. to close the border to all but non-essential traffic,  media reports said.

Justin Trudeau. Image credit: Official website

In one of the measures included in the temporary border deal to combat the spread of COVID-19, it was announced last week by Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau that anyone crossing into the country at the Canada-U.S. border on foot to claim asylum will be turned away.

News outlet Reuters was informed this week by the U.S. border officials that any illegal migrants who cannot be returned to Canada or Mexico will be returned to their country of origin.

Alex Neve, secretary general at Amnesty International Canada, says Canada get into legal complications by this move due to Canada's commitment to international obligations on refugees including “non-refoulement”, that is not sending refugees back to countries where they could face torture or persecution.

Neve says if a refugee turned away by Canada is later deported to a country where they are harmed, Canada could be considered legally liable.

Chrystia Freeland, Deputy Prime Minister of Canada, said Friday that she is discussing this issue with U.S. officials to get their assurances that refugees returned by Canada to the U.S. will not face refoulement.