CIMM – Human Smuggling at the Canada-U.S. Border– November 18, 2022

Key Messages

The Government of Canada strongly discourages irregular crossings, which can be risky and dangerous to those involved. We encourage persons interested in coming to Canada to use regular immigration pathways.
We are aware that some individuals crossing at Roxham Road are being exploited by human smugglers, who are seeking to turn a profit from peoples’ vulnerability and desperation.
Canada cooperates closely with international partners to prevent and disrupt smuggling attempts destined for Canada by land, air, or sea. The federal government will continue to work with domestic law enforcement agencies and international partners to uphold the rule of law.

IRCC supports the RCMP and CBSA in their efforts to detect and disrupt human smuggling networks, and to combat international criminal organizations that seek to profit from the desperation and vulnerability of others.
Canada has a whole-of-government strategy and cooperates closely with international partners to prevent and disrupt specific migrant smuggling operations destined for Canada by land, air, or sea. This strategy is led by Global Affairs Canada, with support from other federal partners, including IRCC.
Canada is party to the United Nations Protocol against Migrant Smuggling by Land, Sea and Air, which requires States Parties to criminalize, prevent and combat this illegal activity. We encourage other countries to ratify and implement this Protocol, as well as its parent Convention, the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime.

IRCC detects and corrects misinformation regarding Canada’s asylum and immigration programs, while promoting regular immigration pathways.
Canada continues to work with international partners, including the U.S. to address the root causes of forced displacement, notably in the Americas, and to promote pathways for people to enter Canada or the U.S. legally and safely.
Canada encourages the use of regular migration pathways, and Canada has a diversity of immigration programs available, including opportunities to reunify families through family sponsorship (spouses and common-law partners, parents and grandparents, and dependent children) and through temporary pathways such as the parent and grandparent super visa or temporary work opportunities.

Canada has made international commitments related to migrant smuggling and orderly migration, under the UN Convention on Transnational Organized Crime and its supplementing Protocol against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea and Air, as well as the Global Compact on Migration.
The Migrant Smuggling Prevention Strategy is a whole-of-government strategy that aims to prevent and disrupt specific migrant smuggling operations that target Canada via air, sea or land modes of transportation; and seeks to dismantle organized criminal smuggling networks that target Canada as a destination.
The Strategy is coordinated by Global Affairs Canada and seeks to combine efforts from law enforcement, intelligence, border management and enforcement, voluntary return assistance, anti-crime capacity-building and diplomatic engagement. It includes anti-crime programming funding to help build capacity in origin and transit countries to detect and prevent or disrupt migrant smuggling networks and their operations. Canadian assistance is provided consistent with international norms, standards and obligations while taking a human rights-based and gender-responsive approach.

RDI and CBC have recently reported that irregular border crossings between Canada and the U.S., including at Roxham Road, are being supported by organized criminal networks in Mexico, the U.S., and Canada.
These networks are helping to smuggle individuals both into Canada, as well as southbound into the U.S. Many but not all of the smuggled individuals seek to claim asylum; some are coming for other reasons, including perceived economic opportunities^{Footnote 1}.
While Roxham Road constitutes the preferred route for persons seeking asylum in Canada, other smuggled migrants are using different irregular points along the border to cross into Canada from the U.S., or vice versa and some of these routes are dangerous
In January 2022, for example, media reported on an Indian family of four who died in southern Manitoba while attempting to cross irregularly into the U.S.^{Footnote 2}