The Continental Mosaic Immigration Sparks Unrest and Policy Shifts Across North America

North America is contending with a profound shift in immigration dynamics. From the streets of Los Angeles to the chambers in Ottawa, a new wave of policy crackdowns, legal challenges, and public protests is unfolding, all with a tangible humanitarian impact.

President Donald Trump’s return to the White House in January has ushered in a blitz of hardline immigration measures. In his first days back in office, Trump issued 10 executive orders on immigration, reviving many of his first-term policies and adding new ones. He declared a national emergency at the southern border to unlock funds for extending the border wall and even authorized military involvement in enforcement. Thousands of US troops (about 10,000 service members) have since been deployed along the frontier. 

The administration also suspended refugee admissions and abruptly ended humanitarian parole programs for Cubans, Haitians, Venezuelans, and Nicaraguans, leaving more than 500,000 would-be migrants in legal limbo inside the United States. At the same time, asylum processing at the US–Mexico border has effectively been shut down. A reinstated “Remain in Mexico” rule now forces most asylum seekers to await US immigration hearings on Mexican soil, adding to already dire conditions in border camps.

Trump has vowed to ramp up interior enforcement as well, seeking to triple deportations to about one million per year, far above previous records. US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has been given an unprecedented mandate, with reports of daily arrest quotas to accelerate removals. As of June 10, reports indicate that agents now face a formal 3,000-arrests-per-day  quota, triple last year’s target. Agents have also been unleashed at sensitive locations like schools and churches that were previously off-limits. This aggressive approach has spread fear through immigrant communities and triggered a flurry of legal challenges. 

Within weeks, federal judges blocked Trump’s attempt to end birthright citizenship for the U.S.-born children of undocumented migrants – calling it unconstitutional under the Fourteenth Amendment. Civil rights groups have filed dozens of lawsuits against various crackdowns. On 13 June, the Supreme Court sided with the White House for the ninth time this term, letting Trump revoke several humanitarian programs while litigation plays out. Despite the court orders and growing civilian outcry, the White House has pressed on, insisting its hardline stance is necessary to restore “law and order” in immigration.

These tactics have driven unauthorized border crossings down to their lowest level in years — March 2025 saw a 95% drop in apprehensions compared to a year earlier — but have overwhelmed Mexico’s shelters and courts with stranded migrants. Major human rights organizations, including ACLU, Human Rights First, and Amnesty International, have since raised grave concerns about due process violations and the treatment of vulnerable people; particularly children and asylum seekers with medical needs. These groups have organized legal clinics at border camps, launched lawsuits, and staged protests in cities like Washington, D.C., and El Paso. The aggressive enforcement of these strict policies has sparked mounting backlash from civil society and international observers, warning that the United States risks trading security for fundamental human rights.

High-profile raids and draconian enforcement in early June ignited public backlash in Los Angeles, as the city has become spotlighted in the national debate over Trump’s immigration clampdown. On June 6, ICE launched a major sweep downtown, arresting 44 people outside the Edward R. Roybal Federal Building. Protests by Mexican-American and immigrant communities erupted almost immediately, with demonstrators waving Mexican flags, throwing concrete, and even setting Waymo self-driving cars ablaze. Riot police responded with tear gas, rubber bullets, and flash-bang grenades.

Over the next four nights the protests swelled, resulting in over 100 arrests and the declaration of a tactical alert that flooded the streets with armored vehicles and federal agents. President Trump, calling the protesters “insurrectionists,” deployed the California National Guard and  ordered 700 active-duty Marines from Twentynine Palms to join the deployment. Up to 4,700 National Guard troops were deployed to quell protests amid the immigration raids. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth confirmed that the Marines and National Guard will remain in Los Angeles for at least 60 days, with an estimated cost of $134 million, confined to protecting federal buildings and personnel rather than making direct arrests. Late on 12 June, the 9th Circuit issued a district-court ruling on troop control, keeping the National Guard under federal command, for now.

California Governor Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass denounced the military presence as “illegal,” “un-American,” and a dangerous federal overreach. California has already filed a lawsuit against the federal government, with Newsom calling the deployment a “trampling of state sovereignty.” While protests have since cooled slightly, solidarity marches and smaller clashes have erupted in at least nine other US cities, including New York, San Francisco, and Austin. Critics warn that this domestic use of military force, the first in Los Angeles since 1992, sets a chilling precedent for civil liberties and signals an alarming expansion of executive power. 

The fallout has rippled across the border as well. Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum publicly condemned the violence in Los Angeles, calling for US authorities to respect due process for detained migrants. Mexico’s foreign minister confirmed that at least 42 Mexican nationals were swept into detention during the Los Angeles operations, with some already deported. In Mexico City, small solidarity protests have gathered outside the US Embassy, underscoring the deepening alarm south of the border over Washington’s actions.

As Washington clamps down, Mexico is contending with a surge of migrants and deepening humanitarian strain. Daily asylum applications have tripled to around 1,000, overwhelming Mexico’s already fragile refugee agency and border shelters. UNHCR data show Mexico recorded 16,100 new asylum claims by early March 2025, after already receiving more than 78,900 asylum applications in 2024, following a record-breaking 140,000 claims in 2023. Many of these migrants were en route to the US and became stranded amidst Trump’s crackdown, while others were deported and now fear returning to their home countries.

This influx comes after the  Trump administration’s January decision to freeze approximately $2 billion in humanitarian aid for Mexico and Central America for 90 days. These cuts to vital USAID funding have forced many shelters and legal aid centers in Mexico to scale back or shut down altogether just as demand is skyrocketing. The aid freeze also slashed funding for Mexico’s own refugee agency, which had relied on U.N. contributions underwritten by US dollars. “This is worse than anything I’ve ever seen,” said Gretchen Kuhner, a veteran migrant advocate and director of the Institute for Women in Migration, referring to the collision of new US border policies and the sudden withdrawal of support.

Canada has upheld its record-high immigration targets by welcoming nearly 500,000 new permanent residents in 2025. However, Prime Minister Mark Carney, who took office in March, is moving to tighten the country’s borders in response to US pressure and shifting domestic sentiment. In early June, Carney’s government introduced the Strong Borders Act (Bill C-2), proposing sweeping changes that critics warn could dramatically reshape Canada’s humanitarian image. Bill C-2 is now being considered by the House public-safety committee, with first witness testimony pencilled in for late June.

The bill would bar asylum claims from migrants who have been in Canada for over a year or who entered the country irregularly, being applied retroactively to those who have arrived since mid-2020. It also expands the Coast Guard’s authority to interdict and search along waterways, permits mail inspections, and grants sweeping new powers to cancel or suspend immigration documents “in the national interest.” Supporters, including Carney and Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree, argue these measures are vital to “combat transnational organized crime, stop the flow of illegal fentanyl, and crack down on money laundering,” all safeguarding Canada’s borders in an era of heightened migration flows.

However, the Strong Borders Act has faced immediate backlash. Critics, including MP Jenny Kwan, the Migrant Rights Network, and refugee advocates, say the bill mimics Trump-era US tactics and risks violating Canada’s international obligations to protect refugees. 

“It’s an alarming shift,” Kwan said, describing the bill as a “massive rollback of rights” that can erode Canada’s long-standing humanitarian commitments.

The US factor looms large. President Trump has repeatedly accused Canada of failing to stop the movement of illicit fentanyl and irregular migration across the northern frontier. In February, Trump threatened and implemented short-lived tariffs on certain Canadian exports, rattling Ottawa and adding impetus for Carney’s government to show it can police its own borders more strictly. 

“There are items in the bill that have been irritants for the US, so we’re addressing some of those issues,” Anandasangaree acknowledged, even as he insisted the bill is about Canadian security first.

The Strong Borders Act has already sparked protests and is mounting legal challenges in Ottawa and in major cities like Montreal and Toronto. Critics argue that Canada, long seen as a beacon of openness, is at risk of abandoning that tradition in the name of security. For Carney’s government, the challenge remains how to reassure a skeptical public that the system is both secure and fair without sacrificing the country’s humanitarian identity.

Across North America, the current wave of immigration crackdowns has revealed a continent both divided and united, 

In the United States, President Trump’s militarized enforcement has fueled fears of creeping authoritarianism and abandonment of civil liberties. Critics see echoes of the 18th-century Alien Enemies Act, once used to target immigrant communities, and warn of the dangers of unchecked executive power in an era of deep political polarization.

Meanwhile, Mexico is absorbing the brunt of these shifting dynamics. The nation’s already strained asylum system faces record-level migrant claims, while Washington’s aid freeze has left shelters and legal aid groups teetering. Despite these challenges, President Claudia Sheinbaum has tried to chart a course that balances cooperation with the United States against Mexico’s own humanitarian obligations.

Legal challenges against the Liberal Party’s proposed Strong Borders Act have ignited protests from Vancouver to Montreal, highlighting the country’s internal struggle to balance openness with control.From the 101 Freeway in Los Angeles to the steps of Parliament in Ottawa, civil society groups are mobilizing. They’re fighting not just against new policies, but to protect the very notion of asylum and the principle that migration can be managed without erasing human dignity.