Washington - If foreign policy is about geographical borders, one might assume that Canada can leave the discussion about the wave of migration flooding the United States on the Mexican border. But at the dawn of a new turbulent geopolitical era, evidence is increasing that America's southern border, along with the political and economic challenges and opportunities it represents, touches the lives of Canadians in many ways.

And if President Joe Biden hopes to achieve his vision of a comprehensive solution to the economic and social ailments threatening the Western Hemisphere, experts say he will need Canada to be an integral part of that conversation.

For his part, Andrew Selee, president of the Migration Policy Institute, a nonpartisan think tank based in Washington, said: "Canada has a lot to contribute, because Canada is the country in the Americas that has come close to being the ideal country for managing immigration affairs."

"There is much that the rest of the Americas, including the United States, can learn from Canada."

The idea behind the summit in Los Angeles, which Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will attend starting Wednesday, is to find a way to address some of the political, economic, and social root causes behind northward migration in the first place.

On this journey, Trudeau will stop on Tuesday in Colorado Springs, where he and Defense Minister Anita Anand will meet with NORAD leaders and military officials, the continental defense system of the joint command awaiting long-overdue modernization.

Joining him in California will be Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault and Foreign Minister Melanie Joly, who are scheduled to meet with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and his Mexican counterpart Marcelo Ebrard.

Selee added, president of the Migration Policy Institute, "As a cornerstone of Canada's economic growth, federal immigration policy strikes a delicate balance among economic, humanitarian, and labor policy priorities while maintaining public support to keep persistent political risks under control."

While the immigration challenges on Canada's southern border pale compared to those facing the United States along the Rio Grande Valley, they are there.

Despite the distance separating Canada from Mexico's northern border by more than 2,300 kilometers, U.S. customs officials in the far north, such as in the state of Maine, have encountered tens of people entering the country from the south in recent months.

Many of them were likely heading to places like Roxham Road, a popular destination for those seeking to apply for asylum in Canada without being sent back to the United States, which happens automatically if they appear at an official entry point.

Selee said: "It would not be surprising if there are people coming from or through Latin America who truly want to ultimately reach Canada."

"Canada has enough people coming from other places in the Americas that it could become a more attractive destination over time, especially if the United States is an inhospitable environment."

For his part, Juan Gonzalez, senior director of the National Security Council for the Western Hemisphere, said it has been 28 years since the United States hosted the inaugural Summit of the Americas in 1994, "and clearly we live in different times."

Biden will propose what Gonzalez called a shared responsibility strategy and economic support for those countries most affected by migrant flows. It will also include a multilateral declaration "of unity and determination" to control the crisis.

He said leaders of "transit or destination countries" will seek consensus on how to address an issue "that actually affects all countries in the Americas."

"We need to work together to address it in a way that treats migrants with dignity and invests in creating opportunities that would provide the protection migrants deserve."

The U.S. Border Patrol calls it "push and pull"—the countless factors that motivate people worldwide to leave one country for another, often as secretly as possible. These motivations were silenced during the COVID-19 pandemic, but no longer.

Authorities intercepted nearly 10,000 people who entered Canada between official entry points during the first four months of the year, compared to only 3,944 during the same period in 2019. Just last month, U.S. Customs and Border Protection reported 9,157 encounters in or near Canada—that is at the U.S. border—and that figure is seven times what it was in April 2021.

Late last month, two Honduran citizens appeared in a Montana court facing human smuggling charges after allegedly leading a group of migrants into the country by walking across the U.S.-Canada border.

Two U.S. citizens also face similar charges in separate cases—one last month involved rescuing a group of Indian citizens trying to cross a river separating Ontario from New York State, and another in Minnesota linked to the death of a family of four from India who died from exposure in freezing conditions in Manitoba.

Recently, border officers in Maine confronted a group of vehicles carrying undocumented migrants, including five Romanian citizens who entered from Canada. And there were two separate incidents involving a total of 22 people, 14 from Mexico and seven from Ecuador, who entered the United States via the southern border.

In the same context, William Maddox, U.S. Border Patrol agent for the Holton sector, said, "Human smugglers are always eager to exploit this desire. When these people see an opportunity to profit, this becomes their business. Any time we change the laws, there will be people looking to exploit those changes."

Priorities of the summit will include helping countries control COVID-19, establishing new links on climate and energy initiatives, tackling food insecurity, and leveraging current trade agreements to ensure that more people can better reap the benefits.

Defending fundamental democratic values will also be a key focus in Los Angeles, which is part of the reason the United States did not invite leaders from Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela—three authoritarian countries with questionable human rights records.

Others, including Mexico's Andrés Manuel López Obrador and Bolivian President Luis Arce, have vowed not to attend unless all heads of governments of allied countries are invited as well. The United States has not yet released the final list of attendees.

Edited by: Dima Abu Khair