The US and Canada crack down on asylum seekers

Plus, the US launches Syria airstrikes.   The US and Canada reach a northern border immigration deal; the US launches retaliatory strikes against Iran in Syria. Tonight's Sentences was written by Jariel Arvin.   TOP NEWS The US-Canada plan to reject asylum seekers Kenny Holston/AFP via Getty Images - Friday, the US and Canada reached a deal that would expel asylum seekers who arrive at their borders through unofficial points of entry. [[Los Angeles Times / Hamed Aleaziz and Erin B. Logan](] - The agreement expands 2004’s Safe Third Country Agreement, which requires refugees arriving at formal points of entry to file asylum claims in the first “safe” country they arrive in. [[BBC / Nadine Yousif and Madeline Halpert](] - Under the new rule, that means asylum seekers who travel through the US to Canada will be sent back to the US, and those who try to come south from Canada will be sent back north. [[NBC News / Julia Ainsley and Monica Alba](] - The policy change follows a record number of crossings in both directions along the northern US border. Last year, 40,000 people used Roxham Road, a path connecting New York to Quebec. [[Reuters / Anna Mehler Paperny and Ted Hesson](] - As a part of the agreement, Canada will also accept and resettle 15,000 migrants fleeing humanitarian crises elsewhere in the Western Hemisphere. [[CBS News / Camilo Montoya-Galvez](] - The move comes as President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau face pressure from conservatives to beef up their response to immigration. [[Vox / Li Zhou](]  [Learn more about RevenueStripe...]( The US and Iran exchange strikes in Syria - The US on Thursday launched airstrikes against Iran-backed militants in Syria after a drone attack killed an American contractor and wounded six others. [[Washington Post / Dan Lamothe](] - US intelligence officials say the drone was affiliated with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard, which has carried out dozens of proxy attacks on US service members in Syria since 2021. [[NPR / Emily Olson and Bill Chappell](] - The American strikes killed at least 11 fighters, according to human rights groups; the exchange could escalate tensions with Iran and threaten recent peace efforts in the Middle East. [[Associated Press / Lou Kesten, Bassem Mroue, and Jon Gambrell](] - Friday, a second drone attack hit a US base in eastern Syria. Pentagon officials say the attack left no injuries or damage. [[ABC News / Luis Martinez and Matt Seyler](]   MISCELLANEOUS A judge on Wednesday blocked Wyoming’s abortion ban, citing a 2012 amendment Republicans passed to block the Affordable Care Act. [[Vox / Ian Millhiser](] - Citing addiction concerns, Utah passed a law that requires parental consent for minors to access social media. [[The Verge / Jess Weatherbed](] - Former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and other Trump advisers must testify before a grand jury investigating the January 6, 2021, insurrection after a judge rejected executive privilege claims. [[ABC News / John Santucci, Katherine Faulders, and Jonathan Karl](] - Americans have moved $550 billion from smaller banks to larger institutions since the collapse of Silicon Valley and Signature Bank. [[Washington Post / Abha Bhattarai](]   CROSSWORD OF THE DAY What's a five-letter word for farmland measures? [Solve today's new Vox crossword puzzle]([,]( and stay tuned for more puzzles coming out Monday through Saturday. Want more crosswords? [Sign up for our crossword newsletter here]( and get a dedicated crossword reminder each weekend.   Support our work Reader gifts help keep Vox and newsletters like Sentences free for all. Support our work with a gift today. [Give](   VERBATIM “The numbers are too low. We had 40,000 cross just in the past year — 15,000 is a low number and just from one part of the world, the Western Hemisphere.” [[Abdulla Daoud, executive director at the Refugee Centre, on Canada’s asylum program](]   LISTEN TO THIS City Limits: Should public transit be free? This year’s weird Winter Olympics were overshadowed by politics, Covid-19, and the threat of war. But as NPR’s Tom Goldman explains, the biggest scandals were still about the sports. [Listen now ▶](   Read more from Vox [Why advertisers aren’t coming back to Twitter]( [The bosses still aren’t back in charge]( [Love Is Blind’s fourth season is its villain era]( [3 winners and 3 losers from Congress’s TikTok hearing]( [Native American histories show rebuilding is possible — and necessary — after catastrophe](  [Learn more about RevenueStripe...](   [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [YouTube]( This email was sent to {EMAIL}. Manage your [email preferences]( [unsubscribe](param=sentences). If you value Vox’s unique explanatory journalism, support our work with a one-time or recurring [contribution](. View our [Privacy Notice]( and our [Terms of Service](. Vox Media, 1201 Connecticut Ave. NW, Floor 12, Washington, DC 20036. Copyright © 2023. All rights reserved.