Trump says Canada is ‘destroying itself’ because of ‘unchecked’ immigrants

By Staff The Canadian Press

Posted September 23, 2026 12:52 pm

1 min read

U.S. President Donald Trump claims Canada is “destroying itself” by allowing millions of people into the country “essentially unchecked and unvetted.”

In a social media post Wednesday, Trump said this is causing unspecified problems that “will soon be too big to handle” and described it as a “Liberal takeover that will end very badly.”

He said the immigration policy is already resulting in high unemployment numbers.

Trump provided no evidence for these claims.

Canada’s unemployment rate in August was 6.4 per cent. The U.S. unemployment rate was 4.1 per cent last month.

0:42 Trump warns Canada-EU partnership could be ‘hostile act’

Ottawa has reduced its immigration intake over the last two years after abandoning plans to work toward admitting 500,000 permanent residents annually. It also introduced targets for admissions of international students and temporary workers following sharp increases in both those populations.

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Immigration Department data shows the number of temporary residents coming to Canada between January and July this year is 66 per cent lower than the number of arrivals over the same period in 2024, when reduction measures began.

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Statistics Canada population estimates show Canada’s population growth has been flat recently due to reduced immigration, and the parliamentary budget officer expects zero population growth this year.

The Immigration Department’s website says all visitors, temporary foreign workers, students, immigrants and refugees undergo comprehensive security screening protocols and can be deemed inadmissible on grounds of security, human or international rights violations, or organized criminality.