Tens Of Thousands Of Canadians Are Now Banned From Entering The US

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Carlos Barria / Reuters

WASHINGTON — As the world processed the impact of President Donald Trump's immigration and visa orders Saturday, tens of thousands of Canadian citizens — possibly including the country's immigration minister — found themselves suddenly barred from entering Canada's closest neighbor and ally.

Trump's executive action signed Friday bans citizens of seven predominantly Muslim countries from entering the United States for 90 days, even if they are also citizens of another nation.

The action also suspends the entire US refugee program for four months and indefinitely halts the resettlement of Syrian refugees.

There were 35,000 Canadians who shared citizenship with Iran, Iraq, Syria, Somalia, Sudan, Libya or Yemen in 2011, according to Statistics Canada data. Another 75,000 people born in those countries live in Canada but are not full Canadian citizens.

What's unclear is whether Canadian citizens who were born in one of those seven countries but do not have dual citizenship will also be banned from entering the US. If that is the case, the number of affected Canadian citizens would rise to 170,000.

Those numbers all come from the 2011 census and would all-but-certainly be higher today. The 2016 census data will start to be released next month.

One person who may be included in the ban is Ahmed Hussen, who was appointed Canada's minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship earlier this month. Hussen came to Canada as a Somali refugee in 1993. He eventually became a lawyer and human rights activist before being elected as a member of Parliament in 2015.

The Prime Minister's Office told BuzzFeed News it is “not concerned about the ability of the Minister to travel.” However, spokesperson Cameron Ahmad did not say whether Hussen would only be able to travel to the US using a diplomatic passport while on government business.

As news of Trump's ban spread Saturday, Hussen tweeted from a citizenship ceremony he was attending.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has not directly addressed the immigration ban, but also tweeted a message that appeared to be in response to Trump's executive action.

Meanwhile, Canadian airlines have stopped allowing passport holders from the seven listed countries to board flights to to the US, even if they have green cards or visas.

Canada and the US share the longest undefended border in the world. Tens of thousands of trucks and hundreds of thousands of people cross the border every day. Passports were not even needed to drive across the border until after the 9/11 attacks.

The question now is how Canada will respond to a ban that could significantly impact trade and the mobility of Canadian citizens. It also runs contrary to the worldview Trudeau has championed. Whereas Trump has banned all refugees from entering the US for 120 days, one of Trudeau's first acts in office was drastically increasing the number of Syrian refugees coming to Canada.

Canada has resettled nearly 40,000 Syrian refugees since late 2015, as well as more than 20,000 from Iraq over the past decade.

Transport Canada spokesman Delphine Denis said the department is in touch with US officials “to get more information on the impacts.”

The Canadian Immigration, Foreign Affairs, and Public Safety departments did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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