Collateral damage: How Trump threw Canada's refugee system into turmoil

U.S. President Donald Trump

Buffered by three oceans and the United States to the south, Canada has for decades had the luxury of being able to pick and choose its newcomers. So few asylum seekers crossed the U.S. border illegally over the years that Canada didn’t consistently track the numbers.

That has changed dramatically over the past 14 months. U.S. President Donald Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigration and his move to strip Haitians, Salvadorans and others of their temporary legal status have had a broad effect on Canada’s refugee system, Reuters interviews with social service providers, government officials and a review of Canadian immigration data show.