Section 102 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA) authorizes the designation of safe third countries for the purposes of co-responsibility for refugee applications. Only countries that respect human rights and offer a high level of protection to asylum seekers can be designated as safe third countries. Concerns have been raised about the lack of security legislation for refugee protection in the United States. This security problem and argument give refugees legitimate reasons to turn around in Canada to lead a better life. On December 29, 2005, a group of refugee and human rights organizations (in Canada and the United States) launched legal action against the U.S. claim as a safe third country for asylum seekers. This action was supported by prominent figures such as Justice Michael Phelan of the Federal Court of Canada on November 29, 2007 and many others. According to media reports, the United States intends to sign agreements with Mexico and Guatemala – perhaps as early as today – of the latest phase of the Trump administration`s efforts to prevent Central American asylum seekers from reaching the country. Such agreements prohibit asylum claims in the United States from thousands of people fleeing El Salvador and Honduras, as well as from other parts of the world who cross Central America and Mexico to reach our border.
They would violate both U.S. and international law to protect asylum seekers. In late June, the chairs of three U.S. House of Representatives committees sent a letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and DHS Current Secretary Kevin McAleenan opposing the negotiation of safe third country agreements with Mexico and Guatemala. Representatives Eliot L. Engel (D-NY), Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), Chairman of the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee, and Bennie Thompson (D-MS), Chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security, cited the 2018 State Department human rights reports that demonstrate that such agreements are contrary to U.S. law. , because neither country has adequate protection and asylum procedures. The Safe Third Country agreements are part of the arsenal by which nation states prevent the arrival of asylum seekers into their territory, in which national legal obligations and rights would be respected.