Canada’s national border security agency has lost track of nearly 30,000 individuals who are wanted for deportation, according to newly released documents. Conservative MP Laila Goodridge recently filed an order paper question that requested figures on how many deportation cases were currently before the Canada Border Services Agency.
In response, CBSA documents revealed that the agency was currently unable to account for 29,731 people listed as “wanted” by immigration authorities.
Those labelled as “wanted” are people who failed to appear for their deportation proceedings, including cases where the person has had immigration warrants issued against them.
The bulk of those who’ve gone missing, 21,325, were residing in Ontario, while the rest span throughout the country.
“Justin Trudeau and his incompetent ministers have yet again proven they have broken our immigration system,” Conservative immigration critic Tom Kmiec told True North.
“Losing track of nearly 30,000 people wanted for deportation is a shocking failure which makes a joke of the integrity of our system and puts the safety of Canadians at risk.”
News of the missing cases surfaced as the Trudeau government was already facing harsh criticism over its lax border security from U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, who recently announced he will be imposing punitive tariffs in response. While the Liberals plan to reduce immigration levels, the government’s plan also depends on nearly 2.4 million people leaving the country voluntarily over the next two years as their visas expire.
There are 457,646 people currently in various stages of being deported from Canada as of late October, according to the newly released data. Of those, 27,675 are in the final stages of the removal process, while another 378,320 people are being “monitored” as they await refugee status decisions, pending permanent resident status or facing “unenforceable” removal orders.
A cohort of 20,921 people have been granted a stay from removal proceedings and the remaining 29,730 were ordered for removal but their location has since been lost. Following Ontario, Quebec is home to the largest swath of people wanted by the CBSA, with 6,109 warrants issued. British Columbia is next with 1,390, then Alberta with 705.
After that, there is a steep dropoff among the other provinces and territories, which each range from zero to 100 cases. Mexicans account for the largest cohort of missing people slated for deportation at 7,622. Indians account for the second most with 3,955 people, followed by 1,785 Americans, 1,516 Chinese, 864 from Pakistanis, 858 Nigerians and 794 Colombians.
Other nationalities with a sizable number of missing people include Palestine, North Korea and Russia. Another 109 cases involve missing people who are deemed stateless or who hold unknown citizenship. However, the numbers are not exact as CBSA withholds deportation information for those aged five and under due to privacy concerns.
“This comes after they printed tens of thousands of fraudulent student visas, did nothing about Roxham Rd. for six years, and relaxed visitor visa requirements, resulting in a sharp hike in asylum claims at our airports,” said Kmiec.