It was the threat of gang violence in Honduras that pushed Carlos and Antonia to flee their home. In 2021, with their toddler, Alejandro, and a handful of belongings, the married couple ventured north hoping to reach safety in the US.
The journey, through Guatemala and Mexico, was filled with danger and uncertainty
“We were in constant fear, every time we had to cross the border and travel with a young child,” said Antonia. “We were terrified.”
Arriving as the US began Donald Trump’s migration purge, their opportunity to make an asylum claim vanished. A lawyer advised them if they appealed, they risked being detained at their migration hearing and deported.
Because Carlos has family members in Canada, they pushed farther north. But their arrival at the Fort Erie border crossing did not end of their precarious journey.
A Canadian border agent said he would let Carlos and Alejandro in, but Antonia who did not have family in Canada – would be sent back to the US. Or all three could return to the US and risk detention and deportation.
Peace Arch at the USA-Canada border with American and Canadian flags flying, two people standing beneath
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“[I said]: ‘What am I supposed to tell my son about why they’re not going to let his mother come in with us?’ And the border officer just said, ‘That’s your problem, you’ve got 20 minutes to make a decision,’” Carlos later recalled.
Antonia began crying. “There was no way I could be separated from my son. I was completely in shock,” she later said. “And then my son started crying, too.”
The family, whose names have been changed for safety, opted to stay together. They were sent back to the US – and then deported to Honduras.
Their story is central to a court challenge by the Canadian Council for Refugees, Amnesty International Canada and the three Hondurans, which argues that Canadian border officials are failing to uphold court-ordered safeguards for asylum seekers before turning them back to the US under the Safe Third Country Agreement.
Until 2004, asylum claims could be made at any legal port of entry in Canada, where they would then be processed and claimants admitted if their claim was approved.
That changed when Ottawa successfully lobbied for the passage of the Safe Third Country Agreement (STCA), forcing migrants to make asylum claims in the country where they first arrived. It initially applied to land-based ports of entry – but not to irregular or unofficial crossings.
But advocacy groups and legal experts increasingly argue that the US should not be considered a safe third country. They point to the country’s long-term detention of those seeking refuge and threats to deport asylum seekers to countries where they could be harmed or killed.
At the same time, Canada is also tightening its own asylum system. New legislation has created further ineligibility rules for refugee claimants, prompting critics to accuse Mark Carney’s government of introducing “Trump-style” immigration policies.
Carlos, Antonia and Alejandro who is now six years old have gone into hiding in Honduras, over fears of retribution from the same gang they fled.
