[Aylmer]

^ To quote myself:

Originally Posted by Aylmer

I don't have the time to formulate a proper response, but in a nutshell:

1. There are very, very few refugees who are permanent residents in the USA. It's often people who have come from elsewhere to the States as refugees, but fear they will not get fair treatment.
2. Asylum-seekers don't always apply in the States. Sometimes, the only flights available go through the US, even if their destination is Canada. But even in those cases, the STCA applies.
3. The US does a lot of things really well, but giving asylum-seekers a fair shake isn't really one of them. Beyond issues of detainment or treatment, they often don't get hearings. When they do, they often don't have access to a lawyer or translation. Imagine if you had to figure out the inner workings of the Chinese legal system on the fly without translation - it might technically be a hearing, but there's no way it can be fair.

So there are entirely valid reasons why refugees might cross the border. We don't accept all of them - there's about a 45% rejection rate - but these people have a right to have that be determined at a fair hearing.