{"id":130002,"date":"2017-11-09T22:54:21","date_gmt":"2017-11-10T03:54:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=130002"},"modified":"2017-11-09T22:54:21","modified_gmt":"2017-11-10T03:54:21","slug":"feds-analyse-implications-for-canada-if-dreamers-program-in-u-s-ends","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2017\/11\/09\/feds-analyse-implications-for-canada-if-dreamers-program-in-u-s-ends\/","title":{"rendered":"Feds analyse implications for Canada if ‘Dreamers’ program in U.S. ends"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"FILE:<\/a>
FILE: In September, President Donald Trump moved to end the deferred action for childhood arrivals program, known as DACA, which gives work permits and reprieve from deportation to hundreds of thousands of high school graduates or military personnel under the age of 31 who came to the U.S. illegally as kids. (Photo: Waqcku at English Wikipedia\/ Wikipedia)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

OTTAWA \u2014 An internal government analysis of U.S. immigration policy suggests significant implications for Canada if a program offering protections for people who came to the U.S. illegally as children is allowed to end.<\/p>\n

In September, President Donald Trump moved to end the deferred action for childhood arrivals program, known as DACA, which gives work permits and reprieve from deportation to hundreds of thousands of high school graduates or military personnel under the age of 31 who came to the U.S. illegally as kids.<\/p>\n

The potential for the program’s demise set off shock waves in the U.S. that radiated all the way into the Privy Council Office in Ottawa.<\/p>\n

The same day, the office, which supports the prime minister, asked Global Affairs whether they had analysis ready and in turn, the Canadian embassy in Washington sent in its observations, according to documents obtained by The Canadian Press under access to information laws.<\/p>\n

Why such a rush for analysis wasn’t specified, but the DACA announcement came after a summer when hundreds of people a day were showing up at the Canada-U.S. border to seek asylum thanks to another pending change in U.S. policy \u2014 the end of a stay on deportation to certain countries, known as temporary protected status.<\/p>\n

That influx sent officials scrambling to spool up immigration and public safety resources and mount an extensive outreach campaign to stem the flow.<\/p>\n

\u201cAny additional pressures as a result of changes the U.S. government may take with regard to the DACA program will need to be considered in light of current operational demands,\u201d the briefing note says.<\/p>\n

The temporary protected status changes could affect about 400,000 people.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, 1.7 million could be eligible for DACA and close to 800,000 are enrolled. While Trump delayed the end of the program by six months for Congress to come up with a legislative fix for those already part of the program, the briefing note points out that over 600,000 permits will expire at that deadline and won’t be renewed.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith respect to Canada, the implications could also be significant,\u201d the analysis said.<\/p>\n

On Thursday, nearly two dozen Republicans said they would lend their support to a legislative effort, but Speaker Paul Ryan, also a Republican, said he saw no need to act before Trump’s deadline.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, hundreds of immigrants walked out from nine schools in the Washington, D.C. area and rallied in front of Congress demanding quick legislation.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow are we supposed to celebrate the holidays being afraid of being deported?,\u201d Bruna Bouhid said.<\/p>\n

Large numbers of what are known as the \u201cDreamers\u201d don’t have strong ties to their birth countries, given they’ve lived in the U.S. for years, so Canada could be a draw, the analysis said.<\/p>\n

Which isn’t entirely a negative proposition, the analysis suggested. Many recipients work in white-collar jobs and since the program only applies to those who at least have finished high school, they are more educated than other unauthorized migrant populations.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor Canada, a sizable portion (of the) DACA-eligible population could be considered more through the lens of economic immigration as opposed to humanitarian protection,\u201d the analysis notes.<\/p>\n

There’s a caveat \u2014 with current immigration levels, Canada’s economic programs might not leave much room for them.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe ability for Canada to receive large numbers of DACA-eligible persons would be modest, at best.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Immigration Department is trying to pull together new policies to address uncertainty created by the ongoing changes to the U.S. system.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, the Canadian Bar Association provided some suggestions, including lifting restrictions in provincial immigration programs that bar DACA recipients from applying.<\/p>\n

\u201cBarriers against refugee claimants, or individuals who do not have status in the country where they reside, do not exist in federal economic immigration programs,\u201d their briefing paper points out.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe result is that individuals who would otherwise qualify for provincial immigration programs are forced to claim refugee protection in Canada to immigrate to Canada, or continue their claim and contribute to the current backlog, as they cannot access other immigration programs.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

OTTAWA \u2014 An internal government analysis of U.S. immigration policy suggests significant implications for Canada if a program offering protections …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":95526,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,16],"tags":[32249,398,32248,406],"class_list":["post-130002","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news-ca","category-news","tag-dreamers-program","tag-canada","tag-feds","tag-united-states","mauthors-stephanie-levitz","mauthors-the-canadian-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130002","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=130002"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130002\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/95526"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=130002"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=130002"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=130002"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}