Quebec’s unmanned border targeted
OTTAWA — The Opposition accused the Conservative government Wednesday of turning a grave border-security problem into a showcase for its tough new refugee laws.
The criticism came after the government announced that it was in the midst of rounding up 85 migrants who crossed into Canada illegally on five separate occasions with the help of human smugglers. The smuggling took place between February and October.
Immigration Minister Jason Kenney travelled to the Quebec border crossing in question to reveal that the migrants had, for the first time since the new Protecting Canada’s Immigration System Act was adopted in June, been designated as “irregular arrivals.”
The designation means that any smugglers among them could face mandatory minimum sentences and increased fines if convicted. Under the new laws, migrants over the age of 16 could also face detention while authorities establish their identities and ensure they are not inadmissible on criminal or other grounds.
Should any of them be denied asylum, the new provisions would make it easier to deport them. Irregular arrivals who obtain refugee status also face a conditional permanent residency for five years and are barred from sponsoring family members for five years.
“With today’s designation, our government is sending a strong message that we will take decisive action against those who would profit illegally from criminally exploiting and violating our immigration system,” Kenney said during a news conference at the border crossing in Stanstead, Que., about 160 kilometres southeast of Montreal.
“We’re also sending a strong message to those who are thinking of using the services of criminal human smugglers to sneak their way into Canada. Don’t do it. Don’t even try.”
The NDP’s deputy public safety critic, however, argued the real issue is the fact that Stanstead is an unmanned border crossing. While visiting the region to get a sense of the problem first-hand is a “step in the right direction,” Rosane Dore Lefebvre said it’s really a public safety issue and said budget cuts at the Canada Border Services Agency aren’t exactly helping the situation.
“What they announced is that people who crossed the border illegally will not be able to sponsor their relatives for five years. In no way are measures like this going to resolve the problems with the Stanstead border. Stanstead remains a border crossing that’s been declared an unmanned border crossing,” she said.
According to the Canadian Border Services Agency, a new security barrier was installed last month at the Stanstead crossing to prevent people from driving the wrong way down the highway to get into Canada without having to report to authorities. Postmedia News has learned the migrants arrived in Canada this way before the barrier was built.
So far, border guards have located 40 of the 85 migrants. About 30 of them were arrested late Tuesday and early Wednesday. Of the 85, 35 are children, and of the remaining 50 adults, one-third are women. The individuals are now being questioned in the Greater Toronto Area as authorities try to determine who among them are the ringleaders. It’s believed that three or four people could be be- hind the sophisticated operation.
“Canada is well-known for its reputation as a tolerant nation, one that welcomes newcomers from all parts of the globe. Unfortunately, this reputation has also made us a target for criminal syndicates,” Public Safety Minister Vic Toews said in a statement Wednesday after using his ministerial powers to make the designation.
“These criminals carry out human smuggling operations that threaten the integrity of our immigration system.”
The migrants, said to be from the same village in Romania, began their journey in Mexico, as there is no visa requirements for Romanians in the Central American country, Kenney explained.
It’s believed they sneaked across the U.S. border carrying fake documents, obtained cars and headed north to Canada, crossing through the unmanned post in Stanstead.
“Following their illegal entry into Canada, they were held by local police or even the RCMP,” Kenney said, adding most went to Toronto, though others went elsewhere in Canada, including to Winnipeg and Thunder Bay, Ont. “Then they made requests for asylum. And from what we know about this asylum request, they were then set free.
“We feel that it is truly very wellorganized, quite frankly we really haven’t seen anything like this in our immigration system before.”
Kenney also noted 12 of the designated migrants are already facing criminal charges in connection with an international crime ring Durham Police in the Greater Toronto Area uncovered in September.
It is alleged that the ringleaders in that crime ring helped immigrants from Romania get welfare, then enlisted them in a series of distraction-type thefts at jewelry and convenience stores in Ontario and Quebec.