Conservative leader Andrew Scheer makes a morning announcement at the Canada/USA boarder on Roxham road during a campaign stop in Lacolle, Que. Wednesday, October 9, 2019. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward

During a Wednesday announcement on his immigration platform, Conservative leader Andrew Scheer invoked MS-13, a street gang often found in the crosshairs of the Trump administration’s anti-immigrant rhetoric.

Speaking at Roxham Road, the Quebec border crossing where many irregular migrants have entered Canada from the U.S. since 2017, the Tory leader said a Conservative government will “closely monitor those considered to be a threat for criminality, especially MS-13 gang members.”

In French, he said “we will also make sure that people from gangs like MS-13 cannot cross the border.”

U.S. President Donald Trump frequently mentions the gang associated with Central America in advocating for harsher immigration policies.

Trump has called the gang “animals” and accused Democrats of shielding suspected members from deportation with sanctuary laws. His administration has also claimed that weak immigration enforcement has led to more MS-13 criminal activity, although there is no such evidence to back those allegations.

Since 2017, the Trump administration has discouraged refugees from seeking asylum in the U.S.

While MS-13 is a vicious force, particularly in El Salvador, where gang crime has pushed some to seek refuge abroad, many critics say Trump has invoked the gang in order to demonize immigrants.

READ MORE: Scheer offers tough-on-crime approach to go after gangs with mandatory sentencing

The Conservatives are promising to go after gangs with harsher sentencing and to form a database labelling known gangs as criminal entities. Doing so would allow prosecutors from not having to repeatedly establish that the gang in question is a known criminal entity each time a suspected member is on trial.

Asked later why he invoked MS-13, Scheer replied: “It’s quite clear that when people come across the border, that it’s difficult for law enforcement here to know exactly who they are.”

“We do know there are reports of people who have entered into Canada with criminal records are who have been identified as being members of criminal organizations,” he said. “So we want to make sure that when people come into Canada, we are putting the safety and security of Canadians first.”

However, Global News reported last month that only 140 out of the roughly 45,000 irregular migrants who entered Canada since 2017 had a criminal past serious enough to stop the refugee process moving forward.

It represents 0.3 per cent of all irregular migrant claims since 2017.

Postmedia reported last year that MS-13 has had a footprint in Toronto for at least 10 years. In 2008, Toronto police arrested 17 suspected MS-13 gang members. After a five-month investigation, police said the gang was targeting an undisclosed member of Canada’s justice system.

Despite this, few news reports show signs of significant MS-13 criminal activities in Canada.

Scheer wants to close loophole in Safe Third Country Agreement

Scheer said Wednesday he also wants to work with the Americans to revise the Safe Third Country Agreement (STCA).

The bilateral agreement stipulates that individuals seeking refugee status in either country must make their claim in the first country they arrive in. But asylum seekers who cross into Canada at irregular points of entry can have their claims heard — in what many see as a loophole in the agreement.

Scheer is also promising to hire an additional 250 Canada Border Services Agency officers to beef up enforcement capacity and deploy existing Immigration and Refugee Board judges to common irregular border crossing points in order to speed up claims.

Asked what closing the STCA loophole would mean, Scheer said his “preferred option” is to solve the border issue bilaterally but a Conservative government “would explore other options.”

Asked what other solutions are on the table, he said “we can apply the principles of (STCA) at other points along the border as well.”

Extending the agreement to cover more of the border was an idea considered by the Liberal government in 2018. Doing so could mean turning away asylum claimants at irregular points of entry and thus discouraging them from entering Canada. Issues have been raised over whether Ottawa has the capacity to enforce such a change.

The Canadian and American government held exploratory talks on revising the agreement earlier this year.

READ MORE: Goodale calls talks to change Safe Third Country Agreements ‘exploratory’

Scheer also pledged to “restore fairness” in the immigration system and support family reunification, particularly in cases involving parents and grandparents. He also wants to promote private sponsorship of refugees and provide low-skilled workers a streamlined path to permanent residency.

Scheer said annual immigration levels should be based on evidence and emphasized that the country’s economic needs and humanitarian reasons should be considered.

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