Bueller? Bueller? Where Are the Students?
Ottawa, ON – Today, Conservative Members of the Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration released the following statement on testimony from the Minister of Immigration, demonstrating the Liberal government’s inability to prevent fraud in Canada’s immigration system:
“Today, Lena Diab, Minister of Immigration, gave the Standing Committee on Immigration new information regarding the Auditor General’s (AG’s) report on rampant fraud in the foreign student visa program. In her testimony, she revealed that:
- 14 per cent of the 153,000 non-citizens who fraudulently entered Canada, roughly 21,420 people, were flagged by the Auditor General as having made (likely bogus) asylum claims, at a high cost to the taxpayers;
- For another 22 per cent (roughly 33,600 people), work is still “ongoing to determine whether they have left the country”; and
- The government is issuing hundreds of thousands of new temporary resident permits, despite not having a system to track when people leave Canada.
“The Minister also couldn’t tell the committee:
- Whether 800 spot-checked confirmed fraud cases by the AG had left the country, or where they remained;
- Why her department does not have a functioning exit tracking system, even admitting that she “wondered the same thing”;
- Which colleges, if any, had been banned from issuing new foreign student permits after having issued fraudulent permits in the past;
- Why the Liberals have kept the ‘light touch’ system which enabled the fraud uncovered by the AG in the first place;
- Whether any of the international students suspected of fraud and noncompliance, and who have since claimed asylum, are being housed in hotel rooms paid for by municipalities with federal funding provided through the Interim Housing Assistance Program; or
- How many of the 21,420 are students who claimed asylum living in Liberal government-funded hotels?
“Worse, when asked whether the system was working, she claimed that it was.
“Canadians can see that this is not the case. Diab also confirmed that the Prime Minister has full knowledge of the extent of this mess and has a regular weekly meeting with her. In spite of this, there has been no measurable progress on the file.
“On February 24, the Prime Minister told Parliament that they have the immigration system under control and that the government has taken back control of immigration. Clearly, that’s not the case. This is now a question of the Prime Minister’s judgment. The system isn’t working, and he needs to fire his Immigration Minister.”