Amid growing US immigration crackdown, Canada quietly enforcing own laws

Amid an ongoing illegal immigration crackdown in the United States and the Trump administration's hardline rhetoric, Canadian officials fear more illegals living in the U.S. could be driven to seek refuge north of the border.

More than 13,000 people crossed into Canada illegally in 2017 alone, according to Canadian government data. That’s more than five times the number intercepted by Royal Canadian Mounted Police in 2016.

The influx created a massive backlog of refugee claimants and, this year, the Canadian government wants to avoid a repeat --especially after the Trump administration announced it would be ending the temporary protective status of an estimated 200,000 Salvadoran immigrants in the U.S., though that change won't occur until 2019.

“You can’t just come to Canada and cross the border and stay there for the rest of your life,” Pablo Rodriguez, a member of the Canadian Parliament and a government envoy to the U.S., told the Los Angeles Times.,,,