RCMP officers guard the Roxham Road border crossing between the U.S. and Canada in Roxham, Que. on March 25, 2023.LARS HAGBERG/Getty Images
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, whose government has faced criticism for not detailing how it will guard against a possible influx of migrants from the U.S., said Ottawa plans to boost security at the border with extra officers and vehicles.
Answering questions from the Bloc Québécois on Wednesday, Mr. Trudeau announced the government would increase staffing and work with “counterparts all across the country” to secure the border. He did not provide details about how many officers would be added.
The announcement came a day after Quebec Premier François Legault outlined his province’s plans to mobilize the Sûreté du Québec to conduct surveillance at the border and prevent migrants streaming into Quebec from the U.S.
The Quebec Premier and Bloc Québécois MPs have criticized the federal government since Donald Trump’s re-election for dismissing their border concerns as speculation and scare-mongering, and for failing to set out plans to deal with it.
Mr. Trump is planning a massive deportation program of undocumented U.S. residents, confirming this week that he would mobilize the military to help carry it out. He has warned that an estimated 11 million people living in the U.S. illegally will be removed from the country.
Since Mr. Trump won the U.S. election, Ottawa has faced calls to do more to secure the border. Critics fear an influx of migrants trying to evade deportation to their home countries, warning that those who manage to slip across the border and evade authorities for 14 days can claim asylum in Canada.
Mr. Legault told reporters at the Quebec legislature on Tuesday that there is “a real risk” that migrants will rush to the Canadian border from the U.S. He said the provincial police force would conduct visual checks at the border.
Mr. Legault has also set up a working group made up of several of his cabinet ministers, with Quebec’s Public Security Minister François Bonnardel providing a weekly status report on the situation.
The Sûreté is in contact with the RCMP, as well as officials in the U.S states of New York, New Hampshire, Maine and Vermont, which border Quebec, he said.
On Wednesday in Parliament, Bloc MP Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe accused the Prime Minister of failing to get ahead of a potential migrant crisis. He said Quebec’s police force is going to have to do the federal government’s job because in Quebec people do not think Ottawa is ready to handle a potential wave of migration.
“They’re just waiting passively for another crisis to materialize with Donald Trump promising to deport millions of people,” he said.
In 2017, Haitians streamed into Canada after the first Trump administration ended temporary protected status for Haitians who had fled to the U.S. The policy sparked an influx of Haitians claiming asylum at the “irregular” Roxham Road border crossing into Quebec. After talks with the U.S., Roxham Road was closed in 2023.
The Canada-U.S. border is the largest continuous border in the world, with large parts of it in remote areas.
The RCMP’s national headquarters told The Globe and Mail earlier this month that it has a plan to deal with a predicted influx of migrants, informed by its experience of a surge during the first Trump presidency. The Quebec RCMP said it also has made preparations to prevent a wave of people entering Canada illegally.