Liberals have ‘lost’ criminals and asylum jumpers: watchdog

OTTAWA • The federal government does not know the whereabouts of over 34,000 foreigners who were ordered to be removed from the country, including nearly 3,000 criminal cases, according to findings by Canada’s Auditor General.

“The timely removal of foreign nationals who are found inadmissible protects the integrity and fairness of Canada’s immigration system. It is also one of the most effective ways to deter those who might otherwise seek to abuse the system. In the case of criminals, timely removal protects the safety and security of Canadians,” reads the report published on Wednesday.

In Canada, if a foreign tourist overstays their visa or an asylum claimant’s request is denied and they’ve exhausted all their legal recourses to appeal, the federal government can emit an enforceable removal order towards that person to ensure they don’t remain in the country. From that point on, the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) is responsible to enforce their removal.

Failed asylum cases constitute the largest portion of foreigners ordered to leave the country each year, according to the report.

But the number of asylum claims increased significantly in the last three years, jumping from 50,000 in 2017 to 64,000 in 2019. Thus, the CBSA considers that the number of removals it must execute will also continue to increase in the future.

And yet, the department struggles to expel those foreigners, the auditor general concluded. In 2018-2019, CBSA only managed to remove 6,700 cases from its removal backlog.

“The Canada Border Services Agency removed few of the foreign nationals in Canada who were subject to enforceable removal orders. Despite a recent increase in removals, the level of enforceable removal orders remained largely unchanged, even for priority cases… Most orders had been enforceable for several years,” the auditor general writes.

That issue may be related to the fact CBSA has lost track of 34,700 individuals ordered to be removed and who now have a warrant in their name. Of that number, nearly 3,000 are considered to be top priorities because they are criminal cases, i.e. they may pose a safety or security risk.

Canadian law demands that CBSA and police forces investigate once every year or three years (depending on the case) for new information on their whereabouts.

But the audit found that they rarely do that either.

“We determined that at least 70% of all criminal cases were not reviewed annually, and 75% of all failed asylum cases were not reviewed every 3 years as required. Agency officials confirmed that cases in its wanted inventory are generally considered a low risk to public safety and are not an agency priority,” reads the report.

The federal government watchdog also found significant issues with the government’s data quality, case management protocols and information sharing between CBSA and Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, which led to “avoidable delays” in thousands of cases.

For example, roughly 1,500 cases had simply not been worked on for at least two years, including 150 involving serious criminals.

Public Safety Minister Bill Blair, the cabinet member responsible for the border agency, said the government accepts the auditor’s recommendations.

In addition to improving its removals strategy, the border agency will enhance the way it tracks and triages cases to ensure priority ones are addressed promptly, Blair said in a statement.