Number of asylum seekers turned back by Canada grows despite U.S. threat of third

Asylum seekers cross into Canada from the U.S. border near a checkpoint on Roxham Road near Hemmingford, Que., in 2022. Canada turned back 3,282 people under the Safe Third Country Agreement in the first eight months of 2025.

Canada’s government is sending more asylum-seekers hoping to file claims in Canada back to the U.S. under a bilateral pact, even as the U.S. says it may deport them to third countries.

Some of the people Canada is turning back should be eligible to file refugee claims in Canada, lawyers say, under exemptions to the Safe Third Country Agreement. The agreement broadly requires asylum-seekers at the Canada-U.S. border to be sent back to the first of the two countries they entered but allows some people - for example those with close family in Canada or stateless person