Canada reimposes a visa requirement on Mexicans

abcnews.go.com:

Canada's immigration minister says his country is reimposing the visa requirements on Mexican nationals visiting Canada

TORONTO — Canada’s government is reimposing the visa requirements on Mexican nationals visiting Canada, the immigration minister announced Thursday.

Quebec’s premier has been urging the Canadian government to slow the influx of immigrants, which he says has been straining resources. The U.S. government also urged Canada to take action as some Mexicans have been crossing illegally into the U.S. from Canada.

Immigration Minister Marc Miller said that the new rules take effect late Thursday.

“We have seen exponential growth in asylum claims particularly from Mexican nationals in the last year,” Miller said.

Miller said Mexico accounted for 17% of all asylum claims received by Canada from around the world, and said most claims from Mexico are either rejected, withdrawn or abandoned, so a change was needed.

“Claims that don’t even have the prospect of success put a pressure on the system and put a pressure on the social supports that these people get,” he said. “It has ripple effects across the system.”

Miller said Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau raised this issue with Mexico's president every time he spoke with him, and said not enough was being done to decrease the numbers.

Trudeau’s government lifted the visa requirement for Mexican visitors in late 2016, removing a major irritant in relations between the two countries.

But Immigration Department data show asylum claims from Mexico have spiked dramatically. In 2015, there were only 110 such claims, but the number jumped to nearly 24,000 last year.

The Quebec government has been calling on Ottawa to reimburse 1 billion Canadian dollars ($740