Canada considering tightening laws against asylum-seekers rejected by U.S.

The Canadian Parliament is mulling tightening its immigration laws to make it harder for migrants whose asylum requests were rejected by other countries to file refugee claims at its border.

Several amendments were introduced Monday to be tacked on to the Liberal government’s omnibus budget bill and curtail migrants’ ability to seek asylum in Canada after the country has seen a spike in border crossings from the U.S.

The amendments would essentially allow border agents to reject refugee claims if the migrants had already been turned away from a country that has an immigration information-sharing agreement with Canada, including the U.S., U.K., Australia and New Zealand. The asylum seeker would not get an oral hearing or be able to appeal an agent’s decisions.