{"id":118551,"date":"2025-09-04T05:40:08","date_gmt":"2025-09-04T05:40:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/118551\/"},"modified":"2025-09-04T05:40:08","modified_gmt":"2025-09-04T05:40:08","slug":"canada-making-no-promises-on-asylum-for-russian-dissidents-being-held-in-u-s-detention","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/118551\/","title":{"rendered":"Canada making no promises on asylum for Russian dissidents being held in U.S. detention"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

From left, Russian dissidents Ilya Yashin, Yulia Navalnaya and Vladimir Kara-Murza during a demonstration in Berlin, Germany, November, 2024. The activists have personally suffered for their opposition to the Kremlin.Markus Schreiber\/The Associated Press<\/p>\n

Prime Minister Mark Carney\u2019s government is making no promises after three prominent Russian dissidents asked him to grant asylum to colleagues at risk of being deported back to Russia by the Trump administration.<\/p>\n

Three Russian public figures, including Alexey Navalny\u2019s widow, this week wrote to Mr. Carney in an open letter, shared exclusively with The Globe and Mail, which said \u201cseveral hundred opposition-minded Russians\u201d who had entered the United States legally in hopes of receiving political asylum were instead being held in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention centres.<\/p>\n

Many of their claims are now being denied amid President Donald Trump\u2019s campaign to dramatically cut back on the number of immigrants living in the U.S.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, however, the Canadian government offered no commitment to accept the Russian asylum seekers. Instead, it said any request for asylum would be considered on its own merits.<\/p>\n

Laura Blondeau, director of communications to Immigration Minister Lena Diab, also noted that the Safe Third Country Agreement would apply to these cases. This bilateral refugee pact between Canada and the United States prevents most asylum seekers who pass through the U.S. from claiming protection in Canada \u2013 and vice versa.<\/p>\n

Russian dissidents ask Canada to take in colleagues facing deportation in the U.S.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cCanada maintains a rigorous process to assess asylum claims that balance our humanitarian objectives, legal obligations, and safety and security measures,\u201d Ms. Blondeau said. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhile we are unable to comment on individual cases, non-U.S. citizens who enter Canada legally are subject to the Safe Third Country Agreement, unless they qualify for an exception or exemption.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said any decisions about exceptions and exemptions to the agreement \u201care made independently by the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada.\u201d<\/p>\n

In making decisions, Ms. Blondeau said, the board would consider whether an individual \u201chas a well-founded fear of persecution based on race, religion, political opinion, nationality, or membership in a particular social group, or are at risk of torture, or cruel or unusual punishment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Russian dissidents may be able to successfully argue that they would face death or harm at the hands of police or state security services in Russia. <\/p>\n

Letter to Canada asks for asylum for Russian dissidents facing deportation<\/a><\/p>\n

Human Rights Watch, in a recent report that cited Russian rights group OVD Info, said as of June this year, at least 80 people prosecuted for political reasons \u201care suffering from illnesses in detention and do not receive timely medical care.\u201d<\/p>\n

The letter to Mr. Carney was signed by Yulia Navalnaya, Vladimir Kara-Murza and Ilya Yashin, three well-known activists who have personally suffered for their opposition to the Kremlin.<\/p>\n

Ms. Navalnaya is the widow of Alexey Navalny, the Russian opposition leader who died under mysterious circumstances in an Arctic prison camp early last year. Mr. Kara-Murza and Mr. Yashin, meanwhile, were separately jailed for speaking out against Russia\u2019s 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Both were released last year as part of a major prisoner exchange between Russia and the West.<\/p>\n

All three are still active members of the anti-Putin opposition, which now exists largely outside of Russia. In an effort to energize and consolidate the Russian exile community, the three organized a pair of large anti-war protests in Berlin over the past year.<\/p>\n

Mr. Kara-Murza plans to visit Canada in October to discuss the proposal with Canadian officials.<\/p>\n

Mr. Yashin, in a recent interview, said he doesn\u2019t think it would anger Mr. Trump if Canada accepted the Russian asylum seekers.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think that this can become a cause of tension between Canada and the U.S., because Trump\u2019s position is simply to kick out immigrants he doesn\u2019t need. By and large, it makes no difference to him where they go \u2013 to Russia, Egypt, Europe, or Canada. I think that Trump absolutely doesn\u2019t care,\u201d Mr. Yashin said in a telephone interview Tuesday. <\/p>\n

Asylum claims from U.S. citizens have jumped since Trump took office, figures show<\/a><\/p>\n

It\u2019s not the only asylum request being made of Mr. Carney. On Wednesday, Free Russia Foundation, a human-rights organization headquartered in Washington, also asked the Prime Minister to offer asylum to Ukrainians who initially fled to the United States as a result of Russia\u2019s war on Ukraine. <\/p>\n

\u201cSince the full-scale invasion, many sought temporary protection in the United States but are now facing uncertainty in the American naturalization process,\u201d said the Sept. 3 letter from Natalia Arno, president of Free Russia Foundation. <\/p>\n

In January, Mr. Trump suspended the \u201cUniting for Ukraine\u201d program that had allowed Ukrainians permission to stay in the United States for two years. <\/p>\n

\u201cAs a result of the program\u2019s suspension, thousands of Ukrainians in the U.S. remain without confirmed legal status and with the threat of deportation a concerning part of their everyday lives,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Ms. Arno asked Mr. Carney to establish a \u201cspecial mechanism that would allow Ukrainians currently residing in the United States due to the war the ability to relocate to Canada and obtain legal status in your country.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ms. Blondeau said Canada has been a staunch supporter of Ukraine as it fights the Russian invasion.<\/p>\n

\u201cSince the start of Russia\u2019s full-scale invasion<\/a> in February, 2022, Canada has committed nearly $22-billion in multi-faceted assistance for Ukraine, including over $12.4-billion in direct financial support \u2013 the largest per capita financial contribution among G7 countries,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

\u201cNearly 300,000 Ukrainians and their family members have been welcomed to Canada under the Canada-Ukraine Authorization for Emergency Travel.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: From left, Russian dissidents Ilya Yashin, Yulia Navalnaya and Vladimir Kara-Murza during a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":118552,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,714,41,39,42,40],"class_list":{"0":"post-118551","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-politics","11":"tag-top-news","12":"tag-top-stories","13":"tag-topnews","14":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118551","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=118551"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118551\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/118552"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=118551"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=118551"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=118551"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}