BORDER DEAL WITH U.S. MAY HELP FIGHT DRUG TRADE

Agreement Will Allow Immigration Officers To Turn Back Asylum Seekers

OTTAWA - A Canada-U.S. agreement announced Friday that lets immigration
officers turn back asylum seekers arriving through either country could
help reduce drug-dealing among refugee claimants in the Lower Mainland,
Deputy Prime Minister John Manley said Friday.

"It's not a matter of shopping for the country that you want, it's a matter
of escaping the oppression that you face," said Manley.

The agreement, which will be enacted through regulations, would give
authorities an additional tool in the future to deal with claimants who
have in recent years played a role in the local drug trade.

"Under the agreement they could be returned to the United States," Manley
told The Vancouver Sun after announcing a border security package with U.S.
Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge.

Manley and Ridge provided few details of the so-called "safe third-country
accord," which is based on the presumption that a person, claiming
persecution in his or her home country, cannot enter a country with a
legitimate refugee claim system and then subsequently go to a third country
to file a claim.

Vancouver city police and the RCMP did not provide comment Friday, but
Canadian Alliance MP Randy White said the new procedures could be a weapon
against street crime.

"This is good for us, because we get a lot of traffic from Central America
through the United States and into Canada," said White (Langley-Abbotsford).

Vancouver Immigration lawyer Brian Tsuji wouldn't comment on the possible
social impact of the change, but said it will likely reduce refugee flows.
"It will certainly cut down on the number of refugee claims that will be
made," said Tsuji, chairman of the Canadian Bar Association's immigration
division in B.C.

For years, Washington argued against such an accord given that the United
States would end up with the bulk of the refugee claimants. Last year,
44,000 people claimed refugee status in Canada. Some 60 per cent had come
from the United States. Many fewer apply in the U.S. after crossing from
Canada.

Manley said only a small fraction of those border claimants are eventually
approved while the success rate is almost 100 per cent for those who apply
through organizatons such as the United Nations High Commission on
Refugees. "It suggests there are other things going on," said Manley, who
insisted neither country would be any less welcoming to those fleeing
persecution.

Several Canadian agencies that help refugees expressed concerns that Canada
risks ejecting vulnerable people into the grip of a less compassionate
American system. The U.S. routinely imprisons refugee claimants -
including minors - and has an uneven record on giving sanctuary to women
fleeing domestic violence, they say.

The Canadian Council for Refugees compared the practice to that of
countries, including Canada, that turned away boatloads of Jewish refugees
seeking refuge from Nazi Germany.

In recent years the Vancouver police have linked young Honduran refugee
claimants to the Vancouver drug trade. In late 2000, a local expert said
about 250 poor Honduran teens were brought to Vancouver over the previous
two years to sell crack cocaine.

Many claimed refugee status and then sold crack either on the Downtown
Eastside, in New Westminster and at various stops along the SkyTrain route,
said Bruce Harris, executive director of Latin American programs for
child-welfare group Casa Alianza. The drug trade appeals to Honduran
youth, Harris said at a late 2000 conference, because of the almost total
lack of economic opportunities for young people in Honduras.

The most recent report of refugee links to the drug trade took place in
May, when Vancouver police said it had issued warrants for the arrest of 58
people, including 20 refugee claimants, on 74 cocaine trafficking charges.

Although final details of the accord have yet to be worked out, Canada
would retain the right to select up to 200 refugees a year turned away by
the U.S., Coderre said. The agreement would make some exceptions for
minors, families, and give priority to keeping both married and same-sex
couples together.

Criminals would be deported within days, rather than months.