Refugee rights groups have launched a Federal Court challenge alleging that Canada is returning asylum seekers to the United States without providing safeguards required by the Supreme Court of Canada, exposing some claimants to detention, deportation and other rights violations.
The case, filed by Amnesty International Canada and the Canadian Council for Refugees, argues that the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) is failing to properly apply exceptions established when the Supreme Court upheld the Safe Third Country Agreement in 2023.
Under the agreement, most asylum seekers who arrive at Canada's land border from the U.S. are deemed ineligible to make refugee claims in Canada and are returned south.
The Supreme Court ruled that the agreement could remain in force only if claimants facing risks such as arbitrary detention or deportation had access to exemptions known as "safety valves."
"The concern is that individuals who raise concerns about being returned to the U.S. are not provided any access to safety valves, and there's really no viable process to request the safety valves," Canadian Council for Refugees co-executive director Gauri Sreenivasan told Everything GP. "So for the CCR, the existence of safety valves at the border is a sham."
According to court documents reported by CBC News, asylum seekers are often not informed that such exemptions exist, have little time to gather evidence and frequently lack access to legal counsel before being returned to the United States.
"People arrive at the border, they have maybe minutes or hours and then Canada sends them back," Amnesty International Canada lawyer Julia Sande told CBC. "They don't have time to gather evidence, they don't have the ability to be represented by legal counsel."
The challenge centers in part on a Honduran family whose U.S. asylum claims were canceled in 2025. After seeking refuge in Canada, the family was turned back at the border, detained in the United States and later deported to Honduras, where advocates say they are now living in hiding after fleeing gang violence and extortion.
The lawsuit comes amid broader concerns about asylum seekers being handed over to U.S. immigration authorities. In May, The Guardian reported on several cases involving migrants who were rejected at the Canadian border and subsequently detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), including Haitian asylum seeker Markens Appolon.
"Canada is participating in this. Canada is handing people over to ICE," his lawyer, Erin Simpson, told the news site.
CBSA said officers have limited discretion in exceptional cases to delay removals when claimants provide credible evidence of serious risks if returned to the United States. The allegations in the lawsuit have not yet been tested in court.
