More than 700 foreign criminals are currently unaccounted for in Canada, according to new testimony before the Commons public safety committee that paints a stark picture of the country’s immigration enforcement backlog.Blacklock's Reporter says Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) officials told MPs the number comes from a broader roster of 33,000 foreign nationals who have “absconded” while under removal orders. Aaron McCrorie, vice-president of enforcement, said roughly 2.2% of that group — 726 people — are tied to criminality of varying degrees.“I liken our inventories to a bathtub,” McCrorie said. “We are constantly scooping water out of that bathtub but the bathtub is filling up.”McCrorie said criminality ranges from offences committed in Canada to crimes committed abroad that were only discovered once the individual arrived here..Agency president Erin O’Gorman said locating and removing foreign criminals remains the highest priority for CBSA officers. “For the safety and security of Canada and its citizens, we place the highest priority on removal cases involving criminality, security, organized crime and human rights violations,” she said.O’Gorman told MPs the Agency has nearly doubled removals of people inadmissible for serious reasons over the past five years and employs about 550 staff dedicated to investigations and removal operations.Conservative MP Frank Caputo pressed officials on the exact number of people lost in the system. “It’s actually 33,130, is that correct?” he asked. O’Gorman replied that “approximately 33,000 people who are on a removal order have absconded.”“Absconded is the word you just used,” Caputo responded. “That would suggest we don’t know where they are.”.Beyond the fugitives tied to criminality, another 30,000 people are awaiting deportation, including failed refugee claimants and illegal immigrants. O’Gorman said roughly 25,900 new cases enter the removal queue each year.In the last fiscal year, 12% of individuals failed to appear for scheduled interviews and 7% skipped their scheduled removal. The Agency has conducted 30,900 removal interviews this year alone, but O’Gorman said many factors delay deportations, including family obligations, holidays such as Christmas, school-year completion for children or medical recovery.While the number of people in the removal inventory has hovered around 30,000 since 2020, O’Gorman said it is constantly shifting. CBSA removes about 400 people each week but sees between 450 and 550 new cases added in the same period.
