By Rob Gillies Associated press

The Supreme Court of Canada on Friday upheld an immigration agreement with the United States that provides that asylum seekers they must apply in the first country they arrive in.

He 2002 Safe Third Country Agreement between the United States and Canada provides that migrants who travel to an official Canadian border crossing will be returned to the United States and directed to apply there, in an effort to control the flow of asylum seekers across the shared border. The high court considered the pact to be constitutional.

“In my view, the record does not support a conclusion that the US detention regime is fundamentally unjust,” said sentencing judge Nicholas Kasirer.

The Canadian Council for Refugees challenged the constitutionality of the 2002 agreement on behalf of several claimants, including an Ethiopian Muslim woman who was detained after trying to enter Canada from the United States.

The lawyers had asked the highest court to declare that the legislation underlying the pact violates the right to life, liberty and security of personsand argued that the United States was not really a safe country for many asylum seekers.

Those arriving on Canadian soil at a location other than a port of entry – such as the hub near Roxham Road – had been allowed to stay and seek protection until a further deal was announced in March. The deal closed a loophole that had allowed thousands of asylum-seeking migrants to move between the two countries on a secondary highway linking New York state to the Canadian province of Quebec. The decision also preserves the closure of this loophole.

Since the beginning of 2017, the number of migrants entering Canada on foot through Roxham Road, on the outskirts of Champlain, New York, has multiplied, which is why the Royal Mounted Police has set up a reception center to process them, less than five miles from the official border crossing.

But the recently enacted policy states that asylum seekers without US or Canadian citizenship who are apprehended within 14 days of crossing any point on the 5,061 kilometer border between the two countries will be removed. This includes people walking on Roxham Road.

The deal reached in March by US President Joe Biden and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau came as the US Border Patrol responded to a sharp increase in illegal crossings south along Canada’s vast border.

The number of people crossing the northern border irregularly is tiny compared to those entering from Mexico. Likewise, there have been deaths of people who attempted to cross to the Canadian side of the border.

Karen Musalo, director of the San Francisco-based Center for Gender & Refugee Studies, said in a statement that it was difficult to understand how the Canadian High Court made its decision because “on no objective assessment” can the United States be considered safe for asylum seekers.

“The Biden administration has adopted policies that deny refugees their right to seek protection, resulting in their illegal return to countries where they face persecution and torture,” the statement said.

Amnesty International said the agreement, which was updated in March 2023, creates an even more dangerous and unfair situation for people seeking asylum in Canada.