Law students put their heads together to help refugees

Law students gather to challenge refugee policy Law students in Winnipeg and across Canada pooled their efforts to a launch challenge to the Canada-U.S. Safe Third Country Agreement.

Manitoba law students hope their combined skills can help refugees who no longer feel safe in the U.S. amid an ongoing battle over President Donald Trump’s executive order banning entry from seven Muslim-majority countries and suspending that country's refugee program.

A federal judge’s decision late Friday put a nation-wide hold on Trump’s executive order. The state justice department said it’s reversing the cancellation of visas and allowing anyone with a valid visa into the country.

The students are gathering at Robson Hall in the Faculty of Law at the University of Manitoba Saturday for a “research-a-thon” to gather information for the Canadian Council for Refugees.

They’re looking to craft a legal challenge to Canada’s Safe Third Country Agreement with the U.S. The neighbouring countries signed the agreement decades ago. It means refugees must claim status in the first country they enter.

“We’re really concerned that actually the U.S. maybe isn’t safe for refugees, and what are the human rights consequences of returning people who need protection to the U.S. at this time?” said second-year U of M law student Maddie Pearlman, who helped organize the research session in Winnipeg.

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Students said more than 200 professors in Canadian law schools have called for the suspension of the agreement in response to Trump’s executive order.

Law students at McGill University put out the original call to action. The students in Manitoba will join between 300 and 500 others at all of Canada’s 22 law schools, who have signed up for the 12-hour marathon, broken up into four-hour shifts.

"I think the mobilization is one of the first of its kind, and just the ability, I think, for all of us to draw on our knowledge and our education and our research capabilities here, I think that this is a really exciting and important opportunity,” said Pearlman.

READ MORE: Manitoba groups calling on feds to welcome more asylum seekers

Manitoba has seen a rise in the number of refugee claimants illegally crossing the border near Emerson, Man. Between April 2016 and December 2016, the Canada Border Services Agency reported 410 people crossed. That’s up from 68 people crossing between April of 2013 and April of 2014.

On Monday, Manitoba Interfaith Immigration Council said 10 people avoided the border and crossed into Manitoba to flee from the United States in the wake of Trump’s travel ban on seven majority Muslim countries.

U of M law professor Gerald Heckman said he's encouraged by the response of the legal system in the U.S., despite Trump's vow to fight the ruling against his order.

"What we are seeing is the rule of law in action. We are seeing advocates, refugee advocates, immigration law advocates taking President Trump’s executive orders to court, challenging their constitutionality, and the judges are responding."

- With files from The Canadian Press and CTV Winnipeg's Beth Macdonell