The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) is targeting a 219 percent increase in the deportation of illegal foreigners from Canadian soil this year, a memo from the agency says.
The memo said in terms of “overall removals,” the CBSA experienced year-over-year increases from fiscal years 2016 to 2021.
“However, the number of removals in fiscal year 2021 to 2022 decreased to 7,451 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and other aforementioned challenges,” said the memo, citing issues of prolonged staff shortage, and “competing priorities such as supporting the refugee influx,” among several reasons.
The CBSA said the priority now is to track the most dangerous foreign fugitives.
“Removals are prioritized based on a risk management regime, with cases involving national security, organized crime, human rights violations and criminality being the highest priority for the safety and security of Canada,” said the federal agency.
‘Deficiencies’
CBSA’s records show that thousands of illegal foreigners have managed to evade deportations for years.“Deficiencies in information sharing with Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) also delayed cases.”
The auditor’s report estimated that in 2018-19, the border agency lost track of 2,800 foreign criminals among the 34,700 “wanted” cases that included 24,100 “failed asylum” and 7,800 “other cases.”
“Periods of inactivity in the cases we examined averaged 4 years,” the report said, while noting that the CBSA has spent $34 million on its deportation program in that same fiscal year.
“Using representative sampling, we determined that at least 70 percent of all criminal cases were not reviewed annually, and 75 percent of all failed asylum cases were not reviewed every 3 years as required.”
