Canada helping Mexico invade the U.S., says Republican firebrand

This item is part of Watching Washington, a regular post from a CBC News correspondent reporting on US politics and developments that affect Canadians.

What’s new

It’s a charge that draws attention: the idea that Canada could aid an invasion of the United States by another country on the continent.

Even more surprising? The comments came from members of the United States Congress during a congressional hearing in Washington.

Less surprising? That member was Marjorie Taylor Greene, a controversial Republican best known as an avid partisan bombshell.

This happened during a hearing organized by Republicans under the title: “Biden’s Growing Border Crisis: Death, Drugs, and Disorder on the Northern Border.”

He used his space at the committee hearing to draw attention to whether Canada allows Mexicans to travel to the country without a visa.

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And he cited an increase in Mexicans being stopped trying to enter the U.S. between ports of entry, with U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials reporting 1,604 such incidents at the northern border in the first four months of this fiscal year compared to 882 for all of last year.

“It is very unfortunate, and dangerous to the national security of the United States, that Canada’s immigration policy allows Mexicans to travel, to Canada, without a visa,” said Taylor Greene.

“It seems that Canada wants to participate in the Mexican invasion of the United States …. They will come to the United States.”

What is the context

There has indeed been an increase in migrants entering the US via Canada. Republicans have since raised the issue, as part of a campaign against what they call the Biden administration’s border policies.

In the process, some chose the data: they made the numbers more dramatic by comparing them to the beginning of the pandemic, when there were no trips, and in some cases, routine incidents at border checkpoints. with stops between checkpoints.

The number of worries has really increased significantly from the last few years. But even at the current pace, Border Patrol agents will stop fewer than 9,000 people coming from Canada this year; that is less than in the early 2000s, and a rounding error compared to more than two million on the Mexican border.

A Democrat called the hearing a waste of time and said it would be better spent on serious issues.

“This manufactured northern border crisis,” as Glenn Ivey of Maryland called it.

“There is nothing about Canada that deserves to be treated like a bad country…. They are a good working partner with the United States.”

Some Republicans, besides Taylor Greene, went out of their way to show that the problem is not in Canada. The chairman of the trial, Dan Bishop of North Carolina, said: “He was a friend – nothing more.”

The problem, some Republicans say, is that the northern border is underpowered. Nearly 10 percent of U.S. Border Patrol agents are stationed along the Canadian border, and among that limited pool, many are transferred for duty along the busier Mexican border.

The head of the US Border Patrol Agents union, Brandon Judd, said: “It is impossible to patrol [northern] border.” He said there was only one agent every 30 miles (48 kilometers).

Several speakers at the hearing mentioned the new Canada-US migration pact announced last week when US President Joe Biden was in Ottawa, and suggested that it benefits Canada more than the US Others, Democrats, called it a good example of co-operation between two friendly countries.

Any

There is no pressure on Canada, at this time, to restore visa requirements for Mexicans. The problem is the fact that the country between Canada and Mexico, the US, requires a visa for Mexicans to enter.

This was a major irritant last year. The Harper government created visa requirements for Mexicans. The Trudeau government is relaxed.

Some US immigration observers have wondered whether pressure from the US could come to shift policy.

Taylor Greene certainly does not speak for the Biden administration, or for the Democrats who control the Senate, or even for most parties; but he has a knack, sometimes, to serve as a bellwether where his party is going.