Canada Border Services Agency stated this week they cannot track and deport all foreign fugitives.According to Blacklock’s Reporter, the Agency admitted the failure after they looked at new information that showed 29,248 foreigners who were not allowed to stay in Canada are still in the country.“I think targets of 100% are rarely achievable,” Jonathan Moore, vice-president of the Border Services Agency, testified at the Senate National Finance committee. “What we have tried to do is increase our targets year over year.”The Agency aims to achieve an 80% success rate when sending foreign fugitives back to their own country.Senator Tony Loffreda (QC) mentioned the Agency used $445 million for border enforcement in 2022.“With many of these individuals being inadmissible on account of criminality, war crimes and other reasons, why are we not achieving our targets?” asked Loffreda. “Why are our targets only 80%? Should we not look to remove close to 100% of these individuals?”“Our aim is to remove all individuals,” replied Moore. The Agency last year successfully deported 562 foreign criminals and 623 illegal immigrants, he said.“Why the target of 80% as opposed to 100%?” asked Loffreda. “Because I think the reality is it’s quite difficult to remove individuals in all cases,” replied Moore.In an October 19 report to the Commons Public Accounts committee, the Agency said it successfully deported 10,041 inadmissible foreigners last year. It was unable to locate another 29,248 fugitives banned from Canada.“The ‘wanted inventory’ includes cases under review to determine if a warrant is required or cases where a warrant has been issued for the arrest, detention and removal of a foreign national,” wrote the Agency.“The complexity of cases in the ‘removals working’ inventory has steadily increased since 2011. It requires more effort from the Agency to enforce removal orders.”MPs asked for regular reports about the number of fugitives on the run after a 2021 audit report Immigration Removals found the Agency had lost track of 2,800 foreign criminals in Canada.“Criminal cases are very important for public safety,” Auditor General Karen Hogan testified at the time.The Agency spent $34 million annually for its program to deport criminals.In a report from 2021, the Commons Public Accounts committee stated Canadians should be told how many fugitives still need to be caught.“The Agency did not remove the majority of foreign nationals who were subject to enforceable removal orders as soon as possible in order to protect the integrity of the immigration system and maintain public safety,” wrote the committee.
