US Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas has said that the US has asked Canada several times to reinstate visa requirements for Mexican nationals travelling to the country. Canada previously required Mexicans travelling to the nation to have a visa, a policy established by Prime Minister Stephen Harper in 2009, but the policy was scrapped by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in 2016.
The reason behind the American request is a spike in illegal border crossings from Mexican nationals into the US from the Canadian border. While it is extremely minimal compared to the US southern border, the US is seeking to curb it nonetheless. In the first 6 months of the 2023 fiscal year the US found 2000 Mexicans attempting to cross into the US, compared to 882 from the entirety of last year.
While the US has said they “think that’s a decision that the Canadian officials are going to make”, Canada has said that they have no intention of doing so.
“Canada works closely with both the United States and Mexico on shared challenges, including border security. In collaboration with these partners, Canada has been monitoring migration trends from Mexico and has no plans to reimpose the visa requirement at this time” -Canadian Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Sean Fraser.
