Tories target foreign criminals in sweeping deportation reforms

[Locutus]

New legislation introduced today by Immigration Minister Jason Kenney will crack down on foreign criminals who delay deportation to their home countries by utilizing Canada’s lengthy appeals system, and make it easier for the government to deport them.

The new laws will limit the access foreign criminals will have to the Immigration and Refugee Board’s Appeal division, thereby reducing the time they can remain in Canada by up to 14 months.

This change, Mr. Kenney said, reduces the likelihood the criminals will re-offend on Canadian soil.

“If a foreign citizen is sentenced to six months or greater, they’re subject to removal,” said Mr. Kenney at a news conference.

“But under the current system, they still have access to the immigration appeal division as long as their sentence is less than two years, and many courts have sentenced foreign criminals to two years less a day explicitly in order for allow them to have access to these multiple appeals and effectively to delay their deportation from Canada.”


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Jason Kenney cracks down on foreign criminals who fight deportation using Canada's appeals process | News | National Post

 

[Nuggler]

8O....."The new laws will limit the access foreign criminals will have to the Immigration and Refugee Board’s Appeal division, thereby reducing the time they can remain in Canada by up to 14 months."

A feelgood law. 14 months is still 14 months too long.

 

[mentalfloss]

Both Kenny and Dykstra were on Power and Politics last night to discuss this new legislation. It is important to note that Kenny got it easy, but Dykstra got absolutely hammered by the opposition on the problems with this bill. He was flopping all around and interrupting the others in damage control mode.

A few things to note are:
1.) The reduction in timeframe from 2 years to 6 months is arbitrary - there is no significance in severity of the crime.
2.) The removal of the word "dangerous" from the legislation.
3.) Power granted directly to the Citizenship Minister to disregard legislation and deport a temporary resident at will.

The second point actually appears to be the more pivotal talking regarding this legislation, as it was placed into previous legislation for a reason. That reason is because there may be a criminal charge with a sentence greater than 6 months that does not qualify as dangerous or serious threat. In fact a few people even mentioned that under this legislation, someone like Nelson Mandela might be booted from the country on the technicality of some arbitrary timeframe.

Another thing to worry about is that the decision to remove a resident can be privy to partisan politics, now that we allow Ministers to step in and take control of the situation. Do we really want someone like Kenney - who sends reply all e-mails calling someone an a-hole - to be responsible for the deportation status of a temporary resident?

The last thing that needs to be discussed is how this legislation devalues temporary residents to begin with. It gives the implication that they simply do not belong in this country if they commit an offense - even if that offense isn't one that is shown to be harmful by any relevant measure.