Immigration Policies and Immigrant Deaths at the Canada-US Border

US President Donald Trump's return to the Oval Office of the White House for the second time has exacerbated the crisis at the country's borders and increasingly exposed immigrants to deadly dangers.

According to The Conversation, after Trump threatened to impose tariffs on Canadian goods if immigration was not stopped, the Canadian federal and provincial governments pledged to tighten security measures at the border with the US.

This comes at a time when research shows that stricter border policies do not prevent immigration and that policing borders pushes immigrants to more remote and dangerous crossings; harder and more difficult crossings also make immigrants more dependent on human smugglers.

The reality is that one of the consequences of increased border security is increased human suffering and death.

Studies show that illegal crossings at the US-Canada border have claimed at least 38 lives; the real number of victims is likely much higher, as irregular border crossings are naturally hidden from view and there are never accurate statistics on those who cross them or lose their lives along these routes.

Serious concerns have been raised about the impact of increased border security measures on the increase in the number of migrant deaths at the US-Canada border.

According to studies, between 2020 and 2023, 15 migrant deaths were recorded at the Canada-US border; from 1989 to 2020, 23 migrant deaths were recorded.

Experts emphasize that given the lack of official records on this matter, the number of victims is likely to be much higher than the number provided.

Three-quarters of the deaths reported in the media involved people heading to the United States, and their remains were mostly found on the Canadian side of the border.

Migrants face a wide range of dangers when crossing the Canada-US border, but drowning is the most significant threat, followed by hypothermia (death from frostbite).

Of the 38 deaths recorded at the Canada-US border, 29 were from drowning and six from frostbite; three were shot by border agents.

Researchers and experts in the United States and Canada have expressed frustration with the lack of accurate information about migrants at the two countries’ borders, saying they have come to believe that border enforcement agencies are not tracking migrant deaths along the Canada-US border.

Another worrying issue is that the US, unlike its practice of providing statistics on migrant deaths at the Mexican border, refuses to provide similar statistics at the Canadian border.

They say this is a problem; migrants are left in the dark, while they are not given information about the dangers ahead.

Concerns about Trump's policies

With Trump back in the White House, more migrant deaths at the Canadian-US borders are foreseeable; as the intensification of US anti-immigration policies and Washington's pressure on Ottawa to adopt such policies, more migrants are driven towards dangerous and deadly crossings.

Although the United States and Canada try to blame human trafficking gangs for the deaths of migrants, the fact remains that even if human trafficking gangs play a role in the deaths of migrants, the main blame lies with governments, which funnel migrants to these criminal gangs.

Public Safety Canada warned in 2023 that tougher border crossings are leading to an increase in human trafficking; the agency said the government’s decisions are driving migrants away from safer crossings and increasing the influence of criminal organizations.

The Canadian and U.S. governments have a duty to educate migrants about the dangers of dangerous crossings and do everything they can to prevent further tragedies.