Rate at which Canada deporting migrants in more than a decade is ‘shocking and unjustifiable’
Canada has spent more than $115 million deporting nearly 29,000 migrants since 2022, an unprecedented rate that flies in the face of the federal government’s promise to regularize the status of undocumented workers, advocates say.
In 2023, Ottawa spent more than $62 million on deportations, the highest amount spent in a year in over a decade, according to data from the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) dating back to 2011.
The deportation rate in 2023 was the highest since 2012, when more than 19,000 people were deported under Stephen Harper’s Conservative government. The deportations include “all removals enforced in each fiscal year,” the CBSA said, including refugee claimants, and migrants residing, working or studying in Canada who have overstayed their legal status.
When asked about the growth in deportations, the agency said “the number of removals enforced in any given year will fluctuate,” adding that the March 2023 expansion of the Safe Third Country Agreement, aimed at limiting asylum seekers entering Canada through unofficial entry points, has contributed to this year’s increase.
About 90 per cent of the total deportations since 2005 are due to “non-compliance,” the CBSA added, referring to migrants living in Canada without authorization. “Criminality,” the second most common reason for deportation, accounts for just over seven per cent of removals.
“The fact that $200 million has been spent to deport tens of thousands of people since 2020 — and after this promise has been made — is shocking and unjustifiable,” said Syed Hussan of the Migrant Rights Network, a national advocacy group for farmworkers, care workers, international students and undocumented people.
Advocates for migrant workers say the surge in deportations runs contrary to the government’s December 2021 commitment to a ‘regularization program’ for undocumented migrants. Such a program would allow migrants to stay in Canada as the government responds to historic labour shortages by ramping up immigration and issuing work permits to non-Canadians in record numbers.
In a mandate letter that year, Trudeau asked then-Immigration Minister Sean Fraser to explore ways of “regularizing status for undocumented workers who are contributing to Canadian communities.”
The government was close to finalizing a plan last fall after consultations with legal and migrant communities, as well as advocacy groups and employers, the Star has reported. It was a turning point for some of the 500,000 undocumented residents estimated to be in Canada, many of whom have precarious and sometimes exploitative jobs in construction, cleaning, caregiving, food processing and agriculture.
But the wait for such a plan has continued as Marc Miller replaced Fraser at the helm of the immigration department in July.
When asked about the delay, Miller spokesperson Aissa Diop said in an email that “Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) is studying various options for regularizing undocumented people in Canada. Any new developments will be communicated publicly as soon as they become available.”
What a removal costs
The average cost of an unescorted removal is $3,700, while an escorted removal costs around $12,500, CBSA said in an email.
Escorted removals occur “when medical reasons exist for the person being removed, and in certain cases to minimize risk to the safety and security of the person(s) being removed, the travelling public and the transportation company personnel,” according to CBSA.
Decisions on whether a removal requires an escort are made “on a case-by-case basis based on risk management and factors such as behaviour, physical health, mental health, level of compliance and criminal history of the individual.”
In 2021, federal spending per year on deportations jumped to more than $48 million as 7,522 people were removed from Canada. In 2022 there were 10,222 deportations costing more than $52 million, and in 2023, some 16,205 people were deported at a cost of $62 million.
“The decision to remove someone from Canada is not taken lightly,” the CBSA said.
Ottawa suspended most of the removals from Canada in the first year of the pandemic as a result of the border closure and public health needs to avoid non-essential travels and control the spread of COVID.
In addition, the Immigration Department also put in place special measures to allow temporary residents already in Canada to extend their legal status in the country.
Those time-limited public policies include: extending the postgraduation work permits for international graduates, relaxing the permanent residence pathways for some work permit holders in Canada and allowing all visitors who are in Canada with valid temporary resident status to apply inland for an employer-sponsored work permit.
‘Climate of fear’
Despite working and living in Canada for several years, Elizabeth Emanuel’s deportation was set for May 26 — a date that cast a shadow over her life after a seven years-long fight to stay in the country and get status.
The 58-year-old came to Canada legally from Nigeria as a refugee in 2017, seeking protection after she and her child were threatened with genital mutilation. Her first appeal was denied in 2019 and now, after exhausting all avenues of appeal, Emanuel fears that if she were forced to return, her life would be at risk.
While fighting her legal battles, Emanuel said she worked two jobs to stay afloat, but as an undocumented migrant she had no access to health care or benefits and her mental health has deteriorated. After having suicidal thoughts, Emanuel was hospitalized in May.
“I don’t have enough money to eat,” she said. “Most of the time I have to beg or go to the food bank to look for food. I’m so sick because I work so much and I don’t have enough money to take care of myself.”
Hussan said the rise in deportations is perpetuating “a massive climate of fear amongst undocumented people who already face greater exploitation,” especially when it comes to work and housing.
Mary Gellatly, a community legal worker with Parkdale Community Legal Services, agrees.
“The cycle of deporting or pushing out workers while bringing in more workers keeps workers disciplined not to speak out about incredible exploitation.”
Advocates say that the issue of undocumented migrants is due to the failure of the immigration system to provide adequate access to permanent residence even though Canada is bringing in vast numbers of temporary residents such as international students and foreign workers.
Statistics Canada data shows the number of work permit holders in Canada skyrocketed to 861,600 in 2021 from 531,800 a decade ago while the number of study permit holders nearly tripled to 617,250 from 225,295 over the same period.
Advocates say undocumented residents face a range of vulnerabilities, including poor mental and physical health caused by isolation and abusive working conditions. Permanent immigration status, they say, would bring these residents out of the underground economy making health care and social services accessible, and help address Canada’s record-high job vacancies.
“We need to be filling jobs that are essential to our economy with people who have equal rights,” Gellatly said. “The time is now to move forward with a comprehensive regularization program to address the historic problems that have resulted in so many people falling out of status.”
This article was first reported by The Star
