Refugee/Migrant Crisis
- Thread starter Tecumsehsbones
- Start date
English is mighty for all 30 or 50 percents of populate.
French never will speak in English so they're black power.
:lol:
Actor Matt Damon Left US Forever Over Trump, Gets Priceless Surprise After Landing – No Turning Back
[youtube]umFRq9Bpewk[/youtube]
David Wilson
1 day ago
Damon is a fool communist anti-American. We are not fooled by the Hollywood alt leftist socialists anti-Americans. It is good to see him gone. He'll be back unfortunately with his tail between is legs. One more down and a lot more to go.
You bin av rode
yer bum hurt?
[youtube]umFRq9Bpewk[/youtube]
David Wilson
1 day ago
Damon is a fool communist anti-American. We are not fooled by the Hollywood alt leftist socialists anti-Americans. It is good to see him gone. He'll be back unfortunately with his tail between is legs. One more down and a lot more to go.
You bin av rode
yer bum hurt?
LEVY: C'mon Ms. Horwath, what's the cost of Sanctuary Ontario?
Sue-Ann Levy
More from Sue-Ann Levy
Published:
May 22, 2018
Updated:
May 22, 2018 9:26 PM EDT
Ontario NDP leader Andrea Horwath makes a campaign stop at the Ironworkers local 721 office in Toronto on Tuesday. Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press
On Tuesday morning — to kick off the third week of the Ontario election campaign — NDP leader Andrea Horwath was pressed at her media avail about the cost of declaring Ontario a sanctuary province.
I was glad that the question was put to her since I’d been trying for two days, with little success, to find out from her assorted media handlers whether her crazy Sanctuary Province concept had been costed out — especially in the wake of Toronto Mayor John Tory’s warnings last Friday that the flood of refugees into our Sanctuary City are creating a shelter and fiscal crisis.
But instead of actually answering the question — remember Horwath has proven to be a proficient tap dancer — she launched into her virtue signalling talk contending, at least that’s what it sounded like, that the idea is all about treating illegals who are ill and come “bleeding” into an emergency ward.
“We don’t have to ask for their passport before we treat them,” she said. “Those are my values, those are the values of most Canadians, most Ontarians … it’s about basic humanity.”
Asked two more times about the cost implications of such a move, she rattled on about the costs of not allowing refugees in illegally — namely that their injuries and illnesses would “become worse” and for heaven’s sake, they might spread some communicable disease to the rest of the community.
“We wouldn’t say to a young child with a raging 104-degree fever … to that child’s mother, ‘Sorry we’re not going to help your child and you’re going to have to deal with it on your own’,” she said. “That’s not who we are as Ontarians.”
Well for excellence in the Fear and Loathing category, I will give Horwath a gold star for her performance.
But surely to goodness Ontario’s NDP leader can answer that basic question? Or maybe she’s just misinformed, although she didn’t seem to be as misleading when she wrote an open letter to her buddy Premier Kathleen Wynne in January of 2017 urging her to declare Ontario a sanctuary province and “make local services accessible to all residents, regardless of their immigration status.”
All Horwath had to do was look at the motion put forward by Mr. Magnanimous Tory and seconded by the fiscally challenged tag team of Joe Cressy and Joe Mihevc at the end of January 2017 to realize that a Sanctuary City is about guaranteeing access to “all city services and city-administered services ” as well as those delivered by the long list of city grant-getters to illegals.
Toronto Mayor John Tory. Ernest Doroszuk/Toronto Sun
What that means, Ms. Horwath, is not just a trip to the ER, although I dare say I can’t see any hospital turning away an illegal immigrant facing an emergency.
It means welfare, housing, ESL training, dental services, special school services and costly surgeries if necessary, employment and psychological counselling and even specialty needs like eyeglasses and transit subsidies. I’m willing to bet many jump the queue as well while our seniors or those with life-threatening illnesses who’ve paid into health care wait a year for an MRI or the kinds of surgeries that will give them a better quality of life.
Let’s take a page from the Toronto experience.
Last Friday — while begging for more money from the province and the feds for a crisis Tory helped exacerbate — he said that 40% of the city’s $105-a-night shelter beds are now full with refugees and that could climb to 50% by November.
He also said that between budget shortfalls and extra funding, they’ve already added $52-million extra to the budget last year and this year.
And that’s just provide accommodation and meals to the refugees. Tory did not mention anything about the extra welfare costs, counselling, support finding new housing (and subsidies), ESL training and all the other free, free programs that help such refugees get started on a new life.
Many won’t work until they are able to speak proper English. That’s just the reality.
But don’t tell Ms. Bernie Saunders Horwath.
She’s too busy tap dancing around the truth.
SLevy@postmedia.com
LEVY: C’mon Ms. Horwath, what’s the cost of Sanctuary Ontario? | Toronto Sun
EDITORIAL: Horwath silent on sanctuary costs
Postmedia News
More from Postmedia News
Published:
May 22, 2018
Updated:
May 22, 2018 5:49 PM EDT
Provincial NDP Leader Andrea Horwath speaks at an NDP rally in Brampton pm Monday, May 21, 2018. Galit Rodan/The Canadian Press
NDP leader Andrea Horwath dodged questions Tuesday about how much her campaign promise to declare Ontario a “sanctuary province” for illegal migrants and refugee claimants will cost taxpayers.
Instead, she said providing public services without asking questions about anyone’s legal status in Ontario, or co-operating with federal authorities to determine it, is the humane thing to do.
It’s unsurprising Horwath is gun shy about talking about the costs of her election promises.
Not after she belatedly admitted to making a $1.4 billion annual mistake in her fiscal plan – amounting to a $7-billion hole over five years – because the NDP mistook a $700 million annual cost item in her platform for a $700 million annual revenue item.
We know Toronto’s decision to declare itself a sanctuary city in 2013 has contributed to escalating costs in the city’s homeless shelter system alone, as increasing numbers of refugee claimants streaming across the U.S. border into Canada end up in Toronto.
(Progressive Conservative leader Doug Ford, who hasn’t released his fiscal platform, supported making Toronto a sanctuary city as a city councillor in 2013.)
Asylum seekers arrive at temporary housing facilities at the St. Bernard-de-Lacolle, Que. border crossing on Wednesday, May 9, 2018. Ryan Remiorz/The Canadian Press
Mayor John Tory last week called for emergency aid from the provincial and federal governments to deal with Toronto’s refugee crisis, saying the city may have to convert a community centre to serve as an emergency refugee reception centre as early as this week.
Refugee claimants, temporarily housed in motels, occupy 41% of the 6,500 available spaces in Toronto’s emergency shelter system, expected to rise to 54% by November, at a cost of $64.5 million.
There’s also the issue of public safety, since Toronto police have been pressured by some councillors and special interest groups not to co-operate with Canada Border Services in deporting illegal migrants and failed refugee claimants.
Toronto police say they have had a “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy regarding the immigration status of victims and witnesses of crime since 2006, but are legally bound to co-operate with federal authorities when criminal activity is involved.
Besides Toronto, London and Hamilton have declared themselves sanctuary cities. Ottawa is considering it.
But surely Ontarians have a right to know how much it will cost for Horwath to declare all of Ontario a sanctuary province, especially since those who would benefit from it don’t pay taxes.
EDITORIAL: Horwath silent on sanctuary costs* | Toronto Sun
Sue-Ann Levy
More from Sue-Ann Levy
Published:
May 22, 2018
Updated:
May 22, 2018 9:26 PM EDT
Ontario NDP leader Andrea Horwath makes a campaign stop at the Ironworkers local 721 office in Toronto on Tuesday. Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press
On Tuesday morning — to kick off the third week of the Ontario election campaign — NDP leader Andrea Horwath was pressed at her media avail about the cost of declaring Ontario a sanctuary province.
I was glad that the question was put to her since I’d been trying for two days, with little success, to find out from her assorted media handlers whether her crazy Sanctuary Province concept had been costed out — especially in the wake of Toronto Mayor John Tory’s warnings last Friday that the flood of refugees into our Sanctuary City are creating a shelter and fiscal crisis.
But instead of actually answering the question — remember Horwath has proven to be a proficient tap dancer — she launched into her virtue signalling talk contending, at least that’s what it sounded like, that the idea is all about treating illegals who are ill and come “bleeding” into an emergency ward.
“We don’t have to ask for their passport before we treat them,” she said. “Those are my values, those are the values of most Canadians, most Ontarians … it’s about basic humanity.”
Asked two more times about the cost implications of such a move, she rattled on about the costs of not allowing refugees in illegally — namely that their injuries and illnesses would “become worse” and for heaven’s sake, they might spread some communicable disease to the rest of the community.
“We wouldn’t say to a young child with a raging 104-degree fever … to that child’s mother, ‘Sorry we’re not going to help your child and you’re going to have to deal with it on your own’,” she said. “That’s not who we are as Ontarians.”
Well for excellence in the Fear and Loathing category, I will give Horwath a gold star for her performance.
But surely to goodness Ontario’s NDP leader can answer that basic question? Or maybe she’s just misinformed, although she didn’t seem to be as misleading when she wrote an open letter to her buddy Premier Kathleen Wynne in January of 2017 urging her to declare Ontario a sanctuary province and “make local services accessible to all residents, regardless of their immigration status.”
All Horwath had to do was look at the motion put forward by Mr. Magnanimous Tory and seconded by the fiscally challenged tag team of Joe Cressy and Joe Mihevc at the end of January 2017 to realize that a Sanctuary City is about guaranteeing access to “all city services and city-administered services ” as well as those delivered by the long list of city grant-getters to illegals.
Toronto Mayor John Tory. Ernest Doroszuk/Toronto Sun
What that means, Ms. Horwath, is not just a trip to the ER, although I dare say I can’t see any hospital turning away an illegal immigrant facing an emergency.
It means welfare, housing, ESL training, dental services, special school services and costly surgeries if necessary, employment and psychological counselling and even specialty needs like eyeglasses and transit subsidies. I’m willing to bet many jump the queue as well while our seniors or those with life-threatening illnesses who’ve paid into health care wait a year for an MRI or the kinds of surgeries that will give them a better quality of life.
Let’s take a page from the Toronto experience.
Last Friday — while begging for more money from the province and the feds for a crisis Tory helped exacerbate — he said that 40% of the city’s $105-a-night shelter beds are now full with refugees and that could climb to 50% by November.
He also said that between budget shortfalls and extra funding, they’ve already added $52-million extra to the budget last year and this year.
And that’s just provide accommodation and meals to the refugees. Tory did not mention anything about the extra welfare costs, counselling, support finding new housing (and subsidies), ESL training and all the other free, free programs that help such refugees get started on a new life.
Many won’t work until they are able to speak proper English. That’s just the reality.
But don’t tell Ms. Bernie Saunders Horwath.
She’s too busy tap dancing around the truth.
SLevy@postmedia.com
LEVY: C’mon Ms. Horwath, what’s the cost of Sanctuary Ontario? | Toronto Sun
EDITORIAL: Horwath silent on sanctuary costs
Postmedia News
More from Postmedia News
Published:
May 22, 2018
Updated:
May 22, 2018 5:49 PM EDT
Provincial NDP Leader Andrea Horwath speaks at an NDP rally in Brampton pm Monday, May 21, 2018. Galit Rodan/The Canadian Press
NDP leader Andrea Horwath dodged questions Tuesday about how much her campaign promise to declare Ontario a “sanctuary province” for illegal migrants and refugee claimants will cost taxpayers.
Instead, she said providing public services without asking questions about anyone’s legal status in Ontario, or co-operating with federal authorities to determine it, is the humane thing to do.
It’s unsurprising Horwath is gun shy about talking about the costs of her election promises.
Not after she belatedly admitted to making a $1.4 billion annual mistake in her fiscal plan – amounting to a $7-billion hole over five years – because the NDP mistook a $700 million annual cost item in her platform for a $700 million annual revenue item.
We know Toronto’s decision to declare itself a sanctuary city in 2013 has contributed to escalating costs in the city’s homeless shelter system alone, as increasing numbers of refugee claimants streaming across the U.S. border into Canada end up in Toronto.
(Progressive Conservative leader Doug Ford, who hasn’t released his fiscal platform, supported making Toronto a sanctuary city as a city councillor in 2013.)
Asylum seekers arrive at temporary housing facilities at the St. Bernard-de-Lacolle, Que. border crossing on Wednesday, May 9, 2018. Ryan Remiorz/The Canadian Press
Mayor John Tory last week called for emergency aid from the provincial and federal governments to deal with Toronto’s refugee crisis, saying the city may have to convert a community centre to serve as an emergency refugee reception centre as early as this week.
Refugee claimants, temporarily housed in motels, occupy 41% of the 6,500 available spaces in Toronto’s emergency shelter system, expected to rise to 54% by November, at a cost of $64.5 million.
There’s also the issue of public safety, since Toronto police have been pressured by some councillors and special interest groups not to co-operate with Canada Border Services in deporting illegal migrants and failed refugee claimants.
Toronto police say they have had a “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy regarding the immigration status of victims and witnesses of crime since 2006, but are legally bound to co-operate with federal authorities when criminal activity is involved.
Besides Toronto, London and Hamilton have declared themselves sanctuary cities. Ottawa is considering it.
But surely Ontarians have a right to know how much it will cost for Horwath to declare all of Ontario a sanctuary province, especially since those who would benefit from it don’t pay taxes.
EDITORIAL: Horwath silent on sanctuary costs* | Toronto Sun
Influx of refugees triggers city's emergency plan on shelter beds
Jenny Yuen
More from Jenny Yuen
Published:
May 23, 2018
Updated:
May 23, 2018 5:36 PM EDT
This file photo taken on August 5, 2017 shows a girl who crossed the Canada/US border illegally with her family, claiming refugee status in Canada,as she looks through a fence at a temporary detention centre in Blackpool, Quebec.GEOFF ROBINS / AFP/Getty Images
The city has activated a contingency plan to open up at least 800 more shelter beds to accommodate growing numbers of asylum seekers from the U.S., Toronto’s office of emergency management said Wednesday.
Beginning Thursday, the city will begin temporarily housing refugee claimants in 400 beds at Centennial College’s residence and conference centre in Scarborough. As of June 1, 400 additional beds at Humber College’s Etobicoke campus will also be made available.
The 800 beds will only be open until early August and comes at a cost of $6.3 million.
“We have 2,700 refugees in our shelter system, we’ve exhausted our capacity and our resources,” said Paul Raftis, general manager of shelter, support and housing administration at a press conference.
“Over the last month, we’ve seen on average, 10 people a day come in to the shelter system, so over 350 new people in last month and we expect that to continue going forward. Our concern is: if it continues at that rate, or speeds up, there will be nowhere to put individuals and they will end up on the street.”
A Toronto homeless shelter. (Toronto Sun files)
Refugee claimants now make up 41% of Toronto’s shelter population, according to Tuesday’s editorial from the Toronto Star, up from 11.2% in 2016.
At the current rate of arrivals, the city projects refugee claimants will represent more than 53.6% of Toronto’s shelter population by November.
Raftis said they anticipate the emergency beds will be full within 60 to 70 days.
“We do know that Quebec did announce that they did anticipate up to 400 people crossing every day with warm weather,” he said.
“We’ve exhausted our human resources.”
There are also refugee claimants coming from Manitoba as well, Raftis added.
The city anticipates an incurred cost of $64.5 million by the end of the year in direct costs related to providing motel housing to refugee claimants, not including the cost of these 800 beds.
The province is paying up to $3 million in Red Cross staff as part of total operating cost of these emergency shelter beds. The city is urging the provincial and federal governments to lend them a hand with a “regional strategy,” including more funding and placing refugees to other locations outside of Toronto’s shelter system.
“Toronto has a long history of welcoming refugees but the city can no longer absorb the cost and impact of the increasing numbers of refugee claimants coming into the country,” said Mayor John Tory in a statement.
A sign warning asylum seekers is seen at the Canada/US border at Roxham Road Wednesday May 9, 2018 in Champlain,NY. (Ryan Remiorz/THE CANADIAN PRESS) Ryan Remiorz / THE CANADIAN PRESS
“We have triggered our emergency protocol to help these families in their time of need, with some support from the Government of Ontario, but require the federal government to take immediate steps to permanently relieve this unprecedented pressure on the city’s shelter system.”
After early August, when students return to their dorms at these colleges, then the city will look at using its community centres, to relocate refugee claimants in Toronto and accommodate new arrivals.
jyuen@postmedia.com
[youtube]0pPCXRthNH8[/youtube]
Influx of refugees triggers city’s emergency plan on shelter beds | Toronto Sun
MALCOLM: Canada doesn't need another sanctuary politician
Candice Malcolm
Published:
May 23, 2018
Updated:
May 23, 2018 5:40 PM EDT
When it comes to so-called sanctuary immigration policies, Ontario needs a wake-up call.
The New Democrats want to make the entire province a “sanctuary” — where immigration and national security laws don’t apply. This means the province will dole out social services regardless of a person’s immigration status.
Neither the Liberals nor the PCs have objected, but they should.
The NDP is borrowing the plan from the U.S. and will specifically copy a California state law that blocks federal immigration laws.
It’s hard to imagine why Canada — a country with strong laws and a functioning, albeit overwhelmed, immigration system — would borrow policies from a country with a disastrous record and dysfunctional system.
That would be like copying Greece’s financial model or borrowing our national security policy from Syria.
The U.S. immigration system is broken; millions of people have crossed the border illegally and live in the shadows.
They don’t pay income taxes, they don’t have licenses and they live in constant fear of deportation. In many cases, they don’t follow local laws or regulations, they don’t bother learning English, and they live in isolated communities — brewing with resentment.
Sanctuary policies are a Band-Aid solution, and terrible one at that.
It was sanctuary policies that allowed a drugged-up illegal Mexican to shoot and kill 32-year-old Kate Steinle on a San Francisco pier in 2015.
The migrant had been deported at least five times, but he kept coming back. Just days before the shooting, he was arrested in San Francisco and released — you guessed it — because of California’s sanctuary policies.
The NDP’s policy, likewise, would prevent local police from reporting dangerous criminal migrants to federal authorities.
The U.S. has archaic immigration rules, a porous southern border, and an estimated 20 million illegal residents. Sanctuary policies are an American solution to a distinctly American problem.
Canada doesn’t have these sorts of issues. So, who exactly is this NDP policy aimed to protect?
When migrants enter Canada illegally, they are arrested and sent to the CBSA for screening and vetting. If the migrant passes our basic national security checks, they are able to make an asylum claim.
All asylum claimants in Canada already receive instant access to provincial government programs, including health care and social services. The Supreme Court has ruled that asylum seekers must receive the same protections as Canadians.
The only migrants not currently eligible for social services are those deemed inadmissible by our security officials.
Canada bans people who: pose a risk to national security, have committed a human rights violation, have ties to organized crime or a terrorist group, have deliberately lied to a Canadian official or who have been convicted of a serious crime.
Terrorists, war criminals, gangsters, liars and thugs.
In other words, the NDP’s sanctuary policy will only protect the sorts of people we really don’t want in our country. Everyone else is already protected by Canada’s extremely generous policies regarding asylum seekers and refugees.
We even provide social services to migrants whose refugee claims have been rejected, and those with pending deportation orders.
Canada’s immigration problems don’t stem from a lack of generosity or good will. Our problems — which are getting worse by the day — come from a political decision not to enforce our current laws.
We already have a virtue-signalling Prime Minister who refuses to stop illegal crossings at Roxham Rd.
The last thing we need is another virtue-signalling politician pledging to ignore our laws and create more incentives for illegal immigration.
[youtube]0pPCXRthNH8[/youtube]
MALCOLM: Canada doesn’t need another sanctuary politician | Toronto Sun
DEBATE THIS: If you oppose illegal immigration, are you alt-right? Malcolm sounds off!
Nelson Branco
More from Nelson Branco
Published:
May 23, 2018
Updated:
May 23, 2018 5:21 PM EDT
Does opposing ISIS and illegal immigration make you “far-right” – regardless of what biased CBC reporters call you?
That’s the hot topic Sun contributor Candice Malcolm debates in a recent Periscope session. (Click above to watch.)
As she recently writes in a Sun column: “It’s hard to imagine why Canada – a country with strong laws and functioning, albeit overwhelmed, immigration system – would borrow policies from a country with a disastrous record and dysfunctional system.
Canada’s immigration problems don’t stem from a lack of generosity or goodwill. Our problems – which are getting worse by the day – come from a political decision not to enforce our current laws.
We already have a virtue-signaling Prime Minister who refuses to stop illegal crossings at Roxham Road.
The last thing we need is another virtue-signaling politician pledging to ignore our laws and create more incentives for illegal immigration.”
Watch above! And tweet and/or Facebook us YOUR thoughts!
[youtube]0pPCXRthNH8[/youtube]
DEBATE THIS: If you oppose illegal immigration, are you alt-right? Malcolm sounds off! | Toronto Sun
Jenny Yuen
More from Jenny Yuen
Published:
May 23, 2018
Updated:
May 23, 2018 5:36 PM EDT
This file photo taken on August 5, 2017 shows a girl who crossed the Canada/US border illegally with her family, claiming refugee status in Canada,as she looks through a fence at a temporary detention centre in Blackpool, Quebec.GEOFF ROBINS / AFP/Getty Images
The city has activated a contingency plan to open up at least 800 more shelter beds to accommodate growing numbers of asylum seekers from the U.S., Toronto’s office of emergency management said Wednesday.
Beginning Thursday, the city will begin temporarily housing refugee claimants in 400 beds at Centennial College’s residence and conference centre in Scarborough. As of June 1, 400 additional beds at Humber College’s Etobicoke campus will also be made available.
The 800 beds will only be open until early August and comes at a cost of $6.3 million.
“We have 2,700 refugees in our shelter system, we’ve exhausted our capacity and our resources,” said Paul Raftis, general manager of shelter, support and housing administration at a press conference.
“Over the last month, we’ve seen on average, 10 people a day come in to the shelter system, so over 350 new people in last month and we expect that to continue going forward. Our concern is: if it continues at that rate, or speeds up, there will be nowhere to put individuals and they will end up on the street.”
A Toronto homeless shelter. (Toronto Sun files)
Refugee claimants now make up 41% of Toronto’s shelter population, according to Tuesday’s editorial from the Toronto Star, up from 11.2% in 2016.
At the current rate of arrivals, the city projects refugee claimants will represent more than 53.6% of Toronto’s shelter population by November.
Raftis said they anticipate the emergency beds will be full within 60 to 70 days.
“We do know that Quebec did announce that they did anticipate up to 400 people crossing every day with warm weather,” he said.
“We’ve exhausted our human resources.”
There are also refugee claimants coming from Manitoba as well, Raftis added.
The city anticipates an incurred cost of $64.5 million by the end of the year in direct costs related to providing motel housing to refugee claimants, not including the cost of these 800 beds.
The province is paying up to $3 million in Red Cross staff as part of total operating cost of these emergency shelter beds. The city is urging the provincial and federal governments to lend them a hand with a “regional strategy,” including more funding and placing refugees to other locations outside of Toronto’s shelter system.
“Toronto has a long history of welcoming refugees but the city can no longer absorb the cost and impact of the increasing numbers of refugee claimants coming into the country,” said Mayor John Tory in a statement.
A sign warning asylum seekers is seen at the Canada/US border at Roxham Road Wednesday May 9, 2018 in Champlain,NY. (Ryan Remiorz/THE CANADIAN PRESS) Ryan Remiorz / THE CANADIAN PRESS
“We have triggered our emergency protocol to help these families in their time of need, with some support from the Government of Ontario, but require the federal government to take immediate steps to permanently relieve this unprecedented pressure on the city’s shelter system.”
After early August, when students return to their dorms at these colleges, then the city will look at using its community centres, to relocate refugee claimants in Toronto and accommodate new arrivals.
jyuen@postmedia.com
[youtube]0pPCXRthNH8[/youtube]
Influx of refugees triggers city’s emergency plan on shelter beds | Toronto Sun
MALCOLM: Canada doesn't need another sanctuary politician
Candice Malcolm
Published:
May 23, 2018
Updated:
May 23, 2018 5:40 PM EDT
When it comes to so-called sanctuary immigration policies, Ontario needs a wake-up call.
The New Democrats want to make the entire province a “sanctuary” — where immigration and national security laws don’t apply. This means the province will dole out social services regardless of a person’s immigration status.
Neither the Liberals nor the PCs have objected, but they should.
The NDP is borrowing the plan from the U.S. and will specifically copy a California state law that blocks federal immigration laws.
It’s hard to imagine why Canada — a country with strong laws and a functioning, albeit overwhelmed, immigration system — would borrow policies from a country with a disastrous record and dysfunctional system.
That would be like copying Greece’s financial model or borrowing our national security policy from Syria.
The U.S. immigration system is broken; millions of people have crossed the border illegally and live in the shadows.
They don’t pay income taxes, they don’t have licenses and they live in constant fear of deportation. In many cases, they don’t follow local laws or regulations, they don’t bother learning English, and they live in isolated communities — brewing with resentment.
Sanctuary policies are a Band-Aid solution, and terrible one at that.
It was sanctuary policies that allowed a drugged-up illegal Mexican to shoot and kill 32-year-old Kate Steinle on a San Francisco pier in 2015.
The migrant had been deported at least five times, but he kept coming back. Just days before the shooting, he was arrested in San Francisco and released — you guessed it — because of California’s sanctuary policies.
The NDP’s policy, likewise, would prevent local police from reporting dangerous criminal migrants to federal authorities.
The U.S. has archaic immigration rules, a porous southern border, and an estimated 20 million illegal residents. Sanctuary policies are an American solution to a distinctly American problem.
Canada doesn’t have these sorts of issues. So, who exactly is this NDP policy aimed to protect?
When migrants enter Canada illegally, they are arrested and sent to the CBSA for screening and vetting. If the migrant passes our basic national security checks, they are able to make an asylum claim.
All asylum claimants in Canada already receive instant access to provincial government programs, including health care and social services. The Supreme Court has ruled that asylum seekers must receive the same protections as Canadians.
The only migrants not currently eligible for social services are those deemed inadmissible by our security officials.
Canada bans people who: pose a risk to national security, have committed a human rights violation, have ties to organized crime or a terrorist group, have deliberately lied to a Canadian official or who have been convicted of a serious crime.
Terrorists, war criminals, gangsters, liars and thugs.
In other words, the NDP’s sanctuary policy will only protect the sorts of people we really don’t want in our country. Everyone else is already protected by Canada’s extremely generous policies regarding asylum seekers and refugees.
We even provide social services to migrants whose refugee claims have been rejected, and those with pending deportation orders.
Canada’s immigration problems don’t stem from a lack of generosity or good will. Our problems — which are getting worse by the day — come from a political decision not to enforce our current laws.
We already have a virtue-signalling Prime Minister who refuses to stop illegal crossings at Roxham Rd.
The last thing we need is another virtue-signalling politician pledging to ignore our laws and create more incentives for illegal immigration.
[youtube]0pPCXRthNH8[/youtube]
MALCOLM: Canada doesn’t need another sanctuary politician | Toronto Sun
DEBATE THIS: If you oppose illegal immigration, are you alt-right? Malcolm sounds off!
Nelson Branco
More from Nelson Branco
Published:
May 23, 2018
Updated:
May 23, 2018 5:21 PM EDT
Does opposing ISIS and illegal immigration make you “far-right” – regardless of what biased CBC reporters call you?
That’s the hot topic Sun contributor Candice Malcolm debates in a recent Periscope session. (Click above to watch.)
As she recently writes in a Sun column: “It’s hard to imagine why Canada – a country with strong laws and functioning, albeit overwhelmed, immigration system – would borrow policies from a country with a disastrous record and dysfunctional system.
Canada’s immigration problems don’t stem from a lack of generosity or goodwill. Our problems – which are getting worse by the day – come from a political decision not to enforce our current laws.
We already have a virtue-signaling Prime Minister who refuses to stop illegal crossings at Roxham Road.
The last thing we need is another virtue-signaling politician pledging to ignore our laws and create more incentives for illegal immigration.”
Watch above! And tweet and/or Facebook us YOUR thoughts!
[youtube]0pPCXRthNH8[/youtube]
DEBATE THIS: If you oppose illegal immigration, are you alt-right? Malcolm sounds off! | Toronto Sun
Ontario election stalling plan to 'triage' asylum seekers
Canadian Press
More from Canadian Press
Published:
May 30, 2018
Updated:
May 30, 2018 10:33 PM EDT
Marc Garneau, Minister of Transport, makes an announcement regarding the Oceans Protection Plan in Vancouver, B.C., on Wednesday May 16, 2018. A plan to 'triage' asylum seekers crossing the Canada-U.S. border illegally in order to move some migrants out of Quebec and into Ontario has stalled because Ontario is in the midst of a provincial election.BEN NELMS / THE CANADIAN PRESS
OTTAWA — A plan to “triage” asylum seekers crossing the Canada-U.S. border illegally, in an effort to move some migrants out of Quebec and into Ontario, has stalled because Ontario is in the midst of a provincial election.
Federal Transport Minister Marc Garneau says Ontario civil servants have been working on details of the plan with the federal government and Quebec, but nothing can be finalized until a new provincial government is in place.
“There’s a lot of very hard work being done by civil servants who work for Immigration Ontario to look at the whole issue of the triage, which is more than just a reception centre. It’s the whole process of absorbing people who want to go to Ontario. And that entails resources — financial resources, and other kinds of resources, manpower resources,” Garneau told reporters Wednesday.
“There is an election going on and, when it’s all in place, there will be a requirement to get the new government of Ontario, whatever that government is, to sign onto that.”
The ad hoc intergovernmental task force on irregular migration met Wednesday evening to discuss the ongoing issue of illegal border crossers and how to address pressures facing Quebec, where the vast majority of irregular migrants are arriving.
The group of federal and provincial officials also met last month, when they reached agreements on measures including the creation of a so-called triage system to identify asylum seekers interested in going to areas outside Montreal or Toronto to await the outcome of their refugee claims.
So far, the system has not materialized.
Quebec Immigration Minister David Heurtel says his province’s resources are becoming strained. More than 9,000 refugee claimants have crossed into Canada through unofficial paths along the border so far this year, with 90 per cent of them landing in Quebec.
Quebec Immigration, Diversity and Inclusiveness Minister David Heurtel responds to Opposition questions on illegal immigrants crossing the border, during question period Thursday, April 19, 2018 at the legislature in Quebec City. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jacques Boissinot)
A majority of the primarily Nigerian asylum seekers who have arrived this year have indicated they want to live in Ontario. That’s why Heurtel says he wants to see the triage system up and running, to help facilitate travel and other arrangements for those who want to go to Ontario.
“For us it is important to see that people who do not want to be in Quebec do not have to stay in Quebec,” he said in French.
Heurtel noted that all federal resources and claims processing centres for these migrants are in Montreal, which is why many of them are remaining there despite wanting to leave.
Garneau said all they can do is continue to work on the details, which he says are complex.
“Very significant progress has been made on what is a fairly complex operation,” he said.
“It includes accommodations and other service that are provided. And of course, like Quebec, which is getting near full capacity, Toronto is getting near full capacity. So there’s also a conscious effort to see whether, while people are going to Ontario, whether they would go to smaller centres in Ontario.”
Concerns have also been raised by both Quebec and Ontario about costs they say the provinces have borne as a result of the surge of irregular migrants.
They’re looking to Ottawa for reimbursement, with Quebec seeking $146 million and the city of Toronto recently stating it needs $64 million to recover its costs.
Garneau said Wednesday those financial negotiations are ongoing.
Meanwhile, federal Immigration Minister Ahmed Hussen said the month of May has seen a drop in the number of irregular migrants, which he attributes to getting the message out that crossing the border illegally is no free ticket to Canada.
In April, an average of 83 asylum seekers were crossing per day. So far in May the average has been 51 per day.
But Heurtel says the federal government must also do more to reduce the amount of time it takes to process the refugee claims.
Many of these border-crossers are well aware there are significant delays, and this is an incentive for them to come to Canada illegally, he said.
“For us this is the heart of the problem.”
Ontario election stalling plan to ‘triage’ asylum seekers | Toronto Sun
Canadian Press
More from Canadian Press
Published:
May 30, 2018
Updated:
May 30, 2018 10:33 PM EDT
Marc Garneau, Minister of Transport, makes an announcement regarding the Oceans Protection Plan in Vancouver, B.C., on Wednesday May 16, 2018. A plan to 'triage' asylum seekers crossing the Canada-U.S. border illegally in order to move some migrants out of Quebec and into Ontario has stalled because Ontario is in the midst of a provincial election.BEN NELMS / THE CANADIAN PRESS
OTTAWA — A plan to “triage” asylum seekers crossing the Canada-U.S. border illegally, in an effort to move some migrants out of Quebec and into Ontario, has stalled because Ontario is in the midst of a provincial election.
Federal Transport Minister Marc Garneau says Ontario civil servants have been working on details of the plan with the federal government and Quebec, but nothing can be finalized until a new provincial government is in place.
“There’s a lot of very hard work being done by civil servants who work for Immigration Ontario to look at the whole issue of the triage, which is more than just a reception centre. It’s the whole process of absorbing people who want to go to Ontario. And that entails resources — financial resources, and other kinds of resources, manpower resources,” Garneau told reporters Wednesday.
“There is an election going on and, when it’s all in place, there will be a requirement to get the new government of Ontario, whatever that government is, to sign onto that.”
The ad hoc intergovernmental task force on irregular migration met Wednesday evening to discuss the ongoing issue of illegal border crossers and how to address pressures facing Quebec, where the vast majority of irregular migrants are arriving.
The group of federal and provincial officials also met last month, when they reached agreements on measures including the creation of a so-called triage system to identify asylum seekers interested in going to areas outside Montreal or Toronto to await the outcome of their refugee claims.
So far, the system has not materialized.
Quebec Immigration Minister David Heurtel says his province’s resources are becoming strained. More than 9,000 refugee claimants have crossed into Canada through unofficial paths along the border so far this year, with 90 per cent of them landing in Quebec.
Quebec Immigration, Diversity and Inclusiveness Minister David Heurtel responds to Opposition questions on illegal immigrants crossing the border, during question period Thursday, April 19, 2018 at the legislature in Quebec City. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jacques Boissinot)
A majority of the primarily Nigerian asylum seekers who have arrived this year have indicated they want to live in Ontario. That’s why Heurtel says he wants to see the triage system up and running, to help facilitate travel and other arrangements for those who want to go to Ontario.
“For us it is important to see that people who do not want to be in Quebec do not have to stay in Quebec,” he said in French.
Heurtel noted that all federal resources and claims processing centres for these migrants are in Montreal, which is why many of them are remaining there despite wanting to leave.
Garneau said all they can do is continue to work on the details, which he says are complex.
“Very significant progress has been made on what is a fairly complex operation,” he said.
“It includes accommodations and other service that are provided. And of course, like Quebec, which is getting near full capacity, Toronto is getting near full capacity. So there’s also a conscious effort to see whether, while people are going to Ontario, whether they would go to smaller centres in Ontario.”
Concerns have also been raised by both Quebec and Ontario about costs they say the provinces have borne as a result of the surge of irregular migrants.
They’re looking to Ottawa for reimbursement, with Quebec seeking $146 million and the city of Toronto recently stating it needs $64 million to recover its costs.
Garneau said Wednesday those financial negotiations are ongoing.
Meanwhile, federal Immigration Minister Ahmed Hussen said the month of May has seen a drop in the number of irregular migrants, which he attributes to getting the message out that crossing the border illegally is no free ticket to Canada.
In April, an average of 83 asylum seekers were crossing per day. So far in May the average has been 51 per day.
But Heurtel says the federal government must also do more to reduce the amount of time it takes to process the refugee claims.
Many of these border-crossers are well aware there are significant delays, and this is an incentive for them to come to Canada illegally, he said.
“For us this is the heart of the problem.”
Ontario election stalling plan to ‘triage’ asylum seekers | Toronto Sun
‘ALL THE PEOPLE HAVE SICKNESS’: Paris cops clear out makeshift migrant tent city housing up to 1,500
Associated Press
More from Associated Press
Published:
May 30, 2018
Updated:
May 30, 2018 8:01 AM EDT
PARIS — Police moved in on Wednesday to clear out some 1,500 people from the largest makeshift migrant camp in the French capital, which has become a focal point in France’s immigration debate.
The mainly African migrants were being moved out of their tent camp along a canal used by joggers and cyclists on the city’s northeast edge, put in buses and taken to gymnasiums in the Paris region. Bulldozers then tore down the tent city along quay.
Workers arrive to clean up the Millenaire migrants makeshift camp along the Canal de Saint-Denis near Porte de la Villette, northern Paris, following its evacuation on May 30, 2018. AFP PHOTO / GERARD JULIENGERARD JULIEN/AFP/Getty Images
Two migrants drowned this month in canals along encampments and others have been injured amid rising tensions in the filthy, crowded camps, adding pressure for authorities to act. But the evacuation was delayed amid bickering over what to do with the migrants.
“To stay one month here is very, very, very bad for me. All the people have sicknesses and not have food,” said Sudanese Farouk Ahmed.
A worker cleans up the Millenaire migrants makeshift camp along the Canal de Saint-Denis near Porte de la Villette, northern Paris, following its evacuation on May 30, 2018. AFP PHOTO / GERARD JULIENGERARD JULIEN/AFP/Getty Images
President Emmanuel Macron wants a tough response to migrants arriving in France. Two days ago, he nevertheless opened the way to citizenship and a job for a Malian migrant who scaled a building and saved a young child dangling from a balcony in what Macron called “an exceptional act.” A video of Mamoudou Gassama’s feat went viral, gaining him the nickname “Spiderman.”
“This is very good for refugees … refugees are helping people,” Ahmed said of Gassama’s heroism, claiming that the French regard refugees as “bad.”
A migrant stands in his tent during the evacuation of a makeshift camp, in Paris, Wednesday, May 30, 2018. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus) ORG XMIT: XTC105
The camps are at the heart of a political debate between French Interior Minister Gerard Collomb and Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo over how to handle migrants. The mayor and dozens of associations pressed for the migrants to be sheltered once dislodged from their encampments, as in the past. The minister dragged his feet.
“This is an issue of dignity,” said Pierre Henry, head of an aid group, France Terre D’Asile.”Street camps should not exist in our country.”
Migrants line up in a makeshift camp during its evacuation, in Paris, Wednesday, May 30, 2018. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
Police have cleared out some 28,000 migrants from Paris camps in the past three years, but the arrivals continue.
http://torontosun.com/news/world/al...akeshift-migrant-tent-city-housing-up-to-1500
Associated Press
More from Associated Press
Published:
May 30, 2018
Updated:
May 30, 2018 8:01 AM EDT
PARIS — Police moved in on Wednesday to clear out some 1,500 people from the largest makeshift migrant camp in the French capital, which has become a focal point in France’s immigration debate.
The mainly African migrants were being moved out of their tent camp along a canal used by joggers and cyclists on the city’s northeast edge, put in buses and taken to gymnasiums in the Paris region. Bulldozers then tore down the tent city along quay.
Workers arrive to clean up the Millenaire migrants makeshift camp along the Canal de Saint-Denis near Porte de la Villette, northern Paris, following its evacuation on May 30, 2018. AFP PHOTO / GERARD JULIENGERARD JULIEN/AFP/Getty Images
Two migrants drowned this month in canals along encampments and others have been injured amid rising tensions in the filthy, crowded camps, adding pressure for authorities to act. But the evacuation was delayed amid bickering over what to do with the migrants.
“To stay one month here is very, very, very bad for me. All the people have sicknesses and not have food,” said Sudanese Farouk Ahmed.
A worker cleans up the Millenaire migrants makeshift camp along the Canal de Saint-Denis near Porte de la Villette, northern Paris, following its evacuation on May 30, 2018. AFP PHOTO / GERARD JULIENGERARD JULIEN/AFP/Getty Images
President Emmanuel Macron wants a tough response to migrants arriving in France. Two days ago, he nevertheless opened the way to citizenship and a job for a Malian migrant who scaled a building and saved a young child dangling from a balcony in what Macron called “an exceptional act.” A video of Mamoudou Gassama’s feat went viral, gaining him the nickname “Spiderman.”
“This is very good for refugees … refugees are helping people,” Ahmed said of Gassama’s heroism, claiming that the French regard refugees as “bad.”
A migrant stands in his tent during the evacuation of a makeshift camp, in Paris, Wednesday, May 30, 2018. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus) ORG XMIT: XTC105
The camps are at the heart of a political debate between French Interior Minister Gerard Collomb and Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo over how to handle migrants. The mayor and dozens of associations pressed for the migrants to be sheltered once dislodged from their encampments, as in the past. The minister dragged his feet.
“This is an issue of dignity,” said Pierre Henry, head of an aid group, France Terre D’Asile.”Street camps should not exist in our country.”
Migrants line up in a makeshift camp during its evacuation, in Paris, Wednesday, May 30, 2018. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
Police have cleared out some 28,000 migrants from Paris camps in the past three years, but the arrivals continue.
http://torontosun.com/news/world/al...akeshift-migrant-tent-city-housing-up-to-1500
BLACK: NDP Sanctuary Ontario policy glosses over refugee realities
James Black
Published:
June 1, 2018
Updated:
June 1, 2018 5:15 PM EDT
Migrants from Somalia cross into Canada illegally from the United States on Feb. 26, 2017, by walking down this train track into the town of Emerson, Man., where they will seek asylum at Canada Border Services Agency. THE CANADIAN PRESS/John Woods
In 2013, city council designated Toronto as a “sanctuary city,” committing to provide social services to people regardless of immigration status, incentivizing illegal immigration to the city.
Last week, the provincial NDP made the feel-good proclamation that, if elected, they would extend this policy provincially.
While at university, I spent a year working for a solo practice law firm that specialized in refugee cases. I barely made minimum wage but for a progressive-minded college student, it was a dream job.
Working at a small firm, where I was one of only four employees, afforded the opportunity to interact with clients that would not have been available at a larger practice.
I still remember the haunted look on the face of a Bangladeshi man as he described watching his brother executed by a paramilitary death squad.
I remember a Salvadoran farmer, beaten nearly to death while his farm burnt to the ground for participating in an uprising against MS-13 extortion.
Thankfully, while I was there, we never lost a single genuine refugee case. But, for every authentic case, there were dozens of phony claims.
In Ontario, refugee claimants are eligible for legal aid, social assistance, subsidized housing and work permits while awaiting their hearing.
One Mexican family, supposedly fleeing cartel violence, filed two applications for social assistance as single parents, double counting their three dependent children. Months later, the father went home, more frightened of the Canadian winter than the cartel. His wife remained, collecting both assistance cheques and working full time under-the-table. By the time the Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB) rejected their claim, they could have flown home first class.
Two sisters, also from Mexico, claimed to both be fleeing abusive sicario boyfriends. Upon receiving work permits, they each took two jobs, serving and bartending. They were attractive and spoke charming broken English, which surely contributed to their making nearly $4,000 per month each in tips alone.
I don’t fault their industriousness but neither of them attended their refugee hearings (or filed a tax return). After eleven months, they returned home with a small fortune.
In 2009, Harper stemmed the spike in phony claims by restricting the Mexican visa-waiver program.
In 2016, Trudeau dropped the restriction. The next year, Mexican refugee claims more than quintupled, as 75% of those processed in 2017 were withdrawn or dismissed.
When Trudeau tweeted his “diversity is our strength” open invitation, the backlog of refugee claims stood fewer than 18,000. Today, it is 48,967.
Nearly one third of backlogged claims are from Haiti and Nigeria. Last year, the IRB dismissed over half of Nigerian and 78% of Haitian refugee claims.
Ontario NPD leader Andrea Horwath addresses media following the Ontario Election Leaders debate at the CBC Broadcast Centre in Toronto, Ont. on Sunday May 27, 2018. Ernest Doroszuk/Toronto Sun/Postmedia Ernest Doroszuk / Ernest Doroszuk/Toronto Sun/Postmedia
Horwath’s “sanctuary” policy only attract individuals seeking to exploit our generosity, rather than those who need it.
Ontarians will decide at the ballot box if they want their government signaling to the world we are a haven for economic migrants. In democracy, the people are always right. However, stifling important conversations about immigration policy with false accusations of xenophobia forces people to vote on the issues without a full airing of the facts.
Our compassion for people fleeing persecution is magnificent, and something in which all Canadians should take pride. But attracting illegal economic migrants and prioritizing them equally with legitimate refugees, or the 4.8 million Canadians who live under the poverty line, is bad policy.
Given the current social climate, one is apt to be called a bigot merely for making that point.
— James Black is a freelance writer working in corporate finance in the entertainment industry.
BLACK: NDP Sanctuary Ontario policy glosses over refugee realities | Toronto Sun
Ottawa to give $50M to Quebec, Ontario and Manitoba for asylum seeker costs
Canadian Press
More from Canadian Press
Published:
June 1, 2018
Updated:
June 1, 2018 7:06 PM EDT
Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Ahmed Hussen speaks to reporters, as Chief Government Whip Pablo Rodiguez, right, looks on, following Question Period in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Friday, June 1, 2018.Justin Tang / THE CANADIAN PRESS
OTTAWA — The federal government will provide $50 million to Quebec, Ontario and Manitoba to help pay for some of the costs they have borne as a result of the influx of asylum seekers illegally crossing the Canada-U.S. border.
Immigration Minister Ahmed Hussen says this is not a final payment to these provinces for border crosser costs, but is meant to help address some of the immediate temporary housing needs in those provinces.
“The continued influx of asylum seekers entering Canada between ports of entry has increased pressure on provinces to provide shelter and social services to a growing number of asylum seekers,” Hussen said in Ottawa on Friday.
“We appreciate the pressures Quebec, Ontario and Manitoba are facing and will continue discussions with provinces towards longer-term solutions including further financial support.”
Quebec, which has seen the majority of asylum seekers this year arriving through a forest path in Saint-Bernard-de-Lacolle, will receive $36 million. Ontario will get $11 million and Manitoba $3 million.
The provinces have asked for much more, with Quebec saying its costs are closer to $146 million, although this includes projected future costs, Quebec Immigration Minister David Heurtel said earlier this week following meetings in Ottawa.
He responded to the financial announcement Friday on Twitter, saying this marks the first concrete recognition from Ottawa of the considerable impact on Quebec since last year caused by the “massive arrival of irregular asylum seekers.”
Toronto Mayor John Tory said last week his city is also dealing with strains on housing and needs $64 million to recover costs.
Hussen says negotiations on further financial compensation with the three provinces are ongoing.
Talks also continue on a plan to “triage” asylum seekers in an effort to move some migrants out of Montreal and Toronto to areas with more available housing and job opportunities.
Last week, the ad hoc intergovernmental task force on irregular migration met to discuss the progress of this plan, but Transport Minister Marc Garneau said nothing can be finalized until the provincial election in Ontario is over.
A reception centre is being set up in Cornwall, Ont., as an alternate location where the federal government can deal with refugee claimants. Now, all federal resources and claims processing centres for irregular migrants are centred in Montreal.
Hussen will soon travel to the United States for high-level talks with U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen to discuss ideas he has to help modernize the safe third country agreement. They include possibly introducing the use of biometrics to allow border officials to better track the movements of individuals to determine if they are eligible to make a refugee claim in Canada.
But Conservative Immigration critic Michelle Rempel says this would do nothing to address the problem unless Canada and the U.S. agree to close a loophole that exists in the agreement that allows asylum seekers to claim refugee status in Canada if they somehow make it into the country through non-official entry points.
“The safe third county agreement still doesn’t apply at an illegal crossing, so he can biometric all he wants, the agreement still isn’t going to apply unless he broaches the issue of renegotiating it.”
More than 9,000 refugee claimants have crossed into Canada through unofficial paths along the border so far this year, with 90 per cent of them arriving in Quebec.
Ottawa to give $50M to Quebec, Ontario and Manitoba for asylum seeker costs | Toronto Sun
James Black
Published:
June 1, 2018
Updated:
June 1, 2018 5:15 PM EDT
Migrants from Somalia cross into Canada illegally from the United States on Feb. 26, 2017, by walking down this train track into the town of Emerson, Man., where they will seek asylum at Canada Border Services Agency. THE CANADIAN PRESS/John Woods
In 2013, city council designated Toronto as a “sanctuary city,” committing to provide social services to people regardless of immigration status, incentivizing illegal immigration to the city.
Last week, the provincial NDP made the feel-good proclamation that, if elected, they would extend this policy provincially.
While at university, I spent a year working for a solo practice law firm that specialized in refugee cases. I barely made minimum wage but for a progressive-minded college student, it was a dream job.
Working at a small firm, where I was one of only four employees, afforded the opportunity to interact with clients that would not have been available at a larger practice.
I still remember the haunted look on the face of a Bangladeshi man as he described watching his brother executed by a paramilitary death squad.
I remember a Salvadoran farmer, beaten nearly to death while his farm burnt to the ground for participating in an uprising against MS-13 extortion.
Thankfully, while I was there, we never lost a single genuine refugee case. But, for every authentic case, there were dozens of phony claims.
In Ontario, refugee claimants are eligible for legal aid, social assistance, subsidized housing and work permits while awaiting their hearing.
One Mexican family, supposedly fleeing cartel violence, filed two applications for social assistance as single parents, double counting their three dependent children. Months later, the father went home, more frightened of the Canadian winter than the cartel. His wife remained, collecting both assistance cheques and working full time under-the-table. By the time the Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB) rejected their claim, they could have flown home first class.
Two sisters, also from Mexico, claimed to both be fleeing abusive sicario boyfriends. Upon receiving work permits, they each took two jobs, serving and bartending. They were attractive and spoke charming broken English, which surely contributed to their making nearly $4,000 per month each in tips alone.
I don’t fault their industriousness but neither of them attended their refugee hearings (or filed a tax return). After eleven months, they returned home with a small fortune.
In 2009, Harper stemmed the spike in phony claims by restricting the Mexican visa-waiver program.
In 2016, Trudeau dropped the restriction. The next year, Mexican refugee claims more than quintupled, as 75% of those processed in 2017 were withdrawn or dismissed.
When Trudeau tweeted his “diversity is our strength” open invitation, the backlog of refugee claims stood fewer than 18,000. Today, it is 48,967.
Nearly one third of backlogged claims are from Haiti and Nigeria. Last year, the IRB dismissed over half of Nigerian and 78% of Haitian refugee claims.
Ontario NPD leader Andrea Horwath addresses media following the Ontario Election Leaders debate at the CBC Broadcast Centre in Toronto, Ont. on Sunday May 27, 2018. Ernest Doroszuk/Toronto Sun/Postmedia Ernest Doroszuk / Ernest Doroszuk/Toronto Sun/Postmedia
Horwath’s “sanctuary” policy only attract individuals seeking to exploit our generosity, rather than those who need it.
Ontarians will decide at the ballot box if they want their government signaling to the world we are a haven for economic migrants. In democracy, the people are always right. However, stifling important conversations about immigration policy with false accusations of xenophobia forces people to vote on the issues without a full airing of the facts.
Our compassion for people fleeing persecution is magnificent, and something in which all Canadians should take pride. But attracting illegal economic migrants and prioritizing them equally with legitimate refugees, or the 4.8 million Canadians who live under the poverty line, is bad policy.
Given the current social climate, one is apt to be called a bigot merely for making that point.
— James Black is a freelance writer working in corporate finance in the entertainment industry.
BLACK: NDP Sanctuary Ontario policy glosses over refugee realities | Toronto Sun
Ottawa to give $50M to Quebec, Ontario and Manitoba for asylum seeker costs
Canadian Press
More from Canadian Press
Published:
June 1, 2018
Updated:
June 1, 2018 7:06 PM EDT
Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Ahmed Hussen speaks to reporters, as Chief Government Whip Pablo Rodiguez, right, looks on, following Question Period in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Friday, June 1, 2018.Justin Tang / THE CANADIAN PRESS
OTTAWA — The federal government will provide $50 million to Quebec, Ontario and Manitoba to help pay for some of the costs they have borne as a result of the influx of asylum seekers illegally crossing the Canada-U.S. border.
Immigration Minister Ahmed Hussen says this is not a final payment to these provinces for border crosser costs, but is meant to help address some of the immediate temporary housing needs in those provinces.
“The continued influx of asylum seekers entering Canada between ports of entry has increased pressure on provinces to provide shelter and social services to a growing number of asylum seekers,” Hussen said in Ottawa on Friday.
“We appreciate the pressures Quebec, Ontario and Manitoba are facing and will continue discussions with provinces towards longer-term solutions including further financial support.”
Quebec, which has seen the majority of asylum seekers this year arriving through a forest path in Saint-Bernard-de-Lacolle, will receive $36 million. Ontario will get $11 million and Manitoba $3 million.
The provinces have asked for much more, with Quebec saying its costs are closer to $146 million, although this includes projected future costs, Quebec Immigration Minister David Heurtel said earlier this week following meetings in Ottawa.
He responded to the financial announcement Friday on Twitter, saying this marks the first concrete recognition from Ottawa of the considerable impact on Quebec since last year caused by the “massive arrival of irregular asylum seekers.”
Toronto Mayor John Tory said last week his city is also dealing with strains on housing and needs $64 million to recover costs.
Hussen says negotiations on further financial compensation with the three provinces are ongoing.
Talks also continue on a plan to “triage” asylum seekers in an effort to move some migrants out of Montreal and Toronto to areas with more available housing and job opportunities.
Last week, the ad hoc intergovernmental task force on irregular migration met to discuss the progress of this plan, but Transport Minister Marc Garneau said nothing can be finalized until the provincial election in Ontario is over.
A reception centre is being set up in Cornwall, Ont., as an alternate location where the federal government can deal with refugee claimants. Now, all federal resources and claims processing centres for irregular migrants are centred in Montreal.
Hussen will soon travel to the United States for high-level talks with U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen to discuss ideas he has to help modernize the safe third country agreement. They include possibly introducing the use of biometrics to allow border officials to better track the movements of individuals to determine if they are eligible to make a refugee claim in Canada.
But Conservative Immigration critic Michelle Rempel says this would do nothing to address the problem unless Canada and the U.S. agree to close a loophole that exists in the agreement that allows asylum seekers to claim refugee status in Canada if they somehow make it into the country through non-official entry points.
“The safe third county agreement still doesn’t apply at an illegal crossing, so he can biometric all he wants, the agreement still isn’t going to apply unless he broaches the issue of renegotiating it.”
More than 9,000 refugee claimants have crossed into Canada through unofficial paths along the border so far this year, with 90 per cent of them arriving in Quebec.
Ottawa to give $50M to Quebec, Ontario and Manitoba for asylum seeker costs | Toronto Sun
LILLEY: Horwath's sanctuary province would cost at least $2.5B annually
Brian Lilley
Published:
June 5, 2018
Updated:
June 5, 2018 9:33 PM EDT
Ontario NDP leader Andrea Horwath listens to a question during a press availability at a campaign stop at Blackwater Coffee Co. in Sarnia on June 4. (The Canadian Press)
Andrea Horwath’s promise of making Ontario a “sanctuary province” would carry “a minimum cost of $2.5-billion annually.”
And that’s just for the added health-care costs.
That estimate comes from Concerned Ontario Doctors, a group that has been warning about problems in Ontario’s health-care system for some time now.
With the NDP promising to extend health coverage to everyone in Ontario, “regardless of their immigration status,” Concerned Ontario Doctors warns we could be adding lots more people but no new money.
“This would immediately give half a million individuals, who currently live in Ontario but don’t qualify for OHIP, access to our health-care system for ‘free,’” COD said in a statement.
Yet, a review of Horwath’s “fully-costed platform” doesn’t list any extra funds for her sanctuary promise.”
Horwath has tried to describe the sanctuary promise as simply making sure that an injured person could be bandaged up. Here is an actual example she gave: A child with scarlet fever could be treated even if that kid’s parents couldn’t pay.
First off, I’m not sure where scarlet fever threatens the Canadian population. Secondly, people in medical emergencies are already treated in our hospitals.
No hospital would leave someone dying outside over the lack of a OHIP card.
What Horwath and the NDP are proposing is extending full health coverage to people who are in the country illegally and for the most part, not part of the system. That means they won’t be paying taxes to support the health care they are using.
The estimate by COD is likely to be low for a couple of reasons.
Horwath is not only promising to extend health coverage to everyone regardless of status, she is promising to expand coverage. She’s promised a $500-million-a-year pharmacare program and a dental-care plan that would cost $1 billion annually by year five of her plan.
Those programs would also be extended to anyone that showed up.
Can you imagine being an American living in Buffalo, Detroit or Port Huron, Michigan and unable to afford your dental bills? Don’t worry, just get an OHIP card.
Don’t think that is feasible?
What would stop it? Horwath wants the system open to all.
What about people coming from overseas to visit relatives and then getting medical care while here? It could happen.
We can also expect that if Andrea Horwath becomes premier and declares Ontario a sanctuary province, more people would come for that very reason.
It happened with Trudeau’s tweet.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau tweeted out #WelcometoCanada in January 2017 and caused a stampede to our borders. The people coming into Canada illegally are costing hundreds of millions of dollars. Those costs will only rise as the number of people coming increase.
Toronto Mayor John Tory recently announced that his city is spending $64.5 million this year alone on emergency shelters due to the influx.
Encouraging bad behaviour gets you more bad behaviour.
Just as Trudeau’s tweet had people coming into Canada illegally, Horwath’s sanctuary promise, if enacted, will find us hosting more and more people taking advantage of the situation.
It worries health professionals like Dr. Kulvinder Gill, president of COD. Dr. Gill says adding so many more people — but not the means to pay for those people — will crush Ontario’s health system.
“In a system that is already broken, those are funds that are coming from the essential front-line care that already needs to be provided,” Dr. Gill said.
“Once we add on more burdens to an already broken system that is already being held together by duct tape, it’s going to fall apart.”
This NDP promise is reckless for so many reasons but the impact on our health-care system is perhaps the most important one.
LILLEY: Horwath’s sanctuary province would cost at least $2.5B annually | Toronto Sun
EDITORIAL: Horwath's should come clean on Sanctuary Ontario promise
Postmedia News
More from Postmedia News
Published:
June 5, 2018
Updated:
June 5, 2018 9:11 PM EDT
NDP Leader Andrea Horwath makes a campaign stop in Toronto, Ont. on Friday June 1, 2018. Dave Abel/Toronto Sun/Postmedia Network
Andrea Horwath’s proposal to turn Ontario into a sanctuary province will carry a $2.5-billion price tag for new health-care expenses, front-line physician group Concerned Doctors of Ontario says.
That’s not something the NDP leader has costed into her campaign platform.
It’s not something Horwath has been willing to discuss.
Instead, when questioned on her plan to “make local services accessible to all residents, regardless of their immigration status,” Horwath has responded with bumper sticker platitudes – variations of “it’s the right thing to do” or we “can’t afford not to.”
Those are deflections, not answers.
Making a political decision to make Ontario a sanctuary province is one thing. The cost of that decision is entirely another.
If Horwath believes her own campaign rhetoric, she needs to say what programs or services she plans to cut, or what taxes she plans to raise to pay for her promise to expand government programs to include, in the case of health-care coverage, a half-million undocumented residents according to CDO.
As it stands, her fiscal plan makes no allowance for that $2.5 billion in extra health-care spending on refugees and other non-citizens.
Nor does it account for the billions we’ll likely need to offer welfare, education and other provincial programs and services to anyone who asks. Sanctuary status will require changes to welfare, education and many other laws, including ordering police not to cooperate with deportations.
To be clear, this isn’t a discussion about the right or wrong thing to do.
Ontario already offers financial and other assistance to refugees to help get them get settled. It’s clearly difficult for families who flee here. They face significant hardship.
Doing more is a policy decision, one Horwath is entitled to make if she forms the next government.
But hiding the cost and implications of that policy decision, however, is cynical, misleading and politically dishonest, especially when you plan to finance most of your other promises on borrowed money and debt.
We know the City of Toronto faces $64.5 million in unexpected and unfunded costs this year to providing shelter and housing for the growing number of refugee claimants coming here.
Horwath needs to come clean on what programs an NDP government would fund, and how she would pay for them.
EDITORIAL: Horwath’s should come clean on Sanctuary Ontario promise | Toronto Sun
Brian Lilley
Published:
June 5, 2018
Updated:
June 5, 2018 9:33 PM EDT
Ontario NDP leader Andrea Horwath listens to a question during a press availability at a campaign stop at Blackwater Coffee Co. in Sarnia on June 4. (The Canadian Press)
Andrea Horwath’s promise of making Ontario a “sanctuary province” would carry “a minimum cost of $2.5-billion annually.”
And that’s just for the added health-care costs.
That estimate comes from Concerned Ontario Doctors, a group that has been warning about problems in Ontario’s health-care system for some time now.
With the NDP promising to extend health coverage to everyone in Ontario, “regardless of their immigration status,” Concerned Ontario Doctors warns we could be adding lots more people but no new money.
“This would immediately give half a million individuals, who currently live in Ontario but don’t qualify for OHIP, access to our health-care system for ‘free,’” COD said in a statement.
Yet, a review of Horwath’s “fully-costed platform” doesn’t list any extra funds for her sanctuary promise.”
Horwath has tried to describe the sanctuary promise as simply making sure that an injured person could be bandaged up. Here is an actual example she gave: A child with scarlet fever could be treated even if that kid’s parents couldn’t pay.
First off, I’m not sure where scarlet fever threatens the Canadian population. Secondly, people in medical emergencies are already treated in our hospitals.
No hospital would leave someone dying outside over the lack of a OHIP card.
What Horwath and the NDP are proposing is extending full health coverage to people who are in the country illegally and for the most part, not part of the system. That means they won’t be paying taxes to support the health care they are using.
The estimate by COD is likely to be low for a couple of reasons.
Horwath is not only promising to extend health coverage to everyone regardless of status, she is promising to expand coverage. She’s promised a $500-million-a-year pharmacare program and a dental-care plan that would cost $1 billion annually by year five of her plan.
Those programs would also be extended to anyone that showed up.
Can you imagine being an American living in Buffalo, Detroit or Port Huron, Michigan and unable to afford your dental bills? Don’t worry, just get an OHIP card.
Don’t think that is feasible?
What would stop it? Horwath wants the system open to all.
What about people coming from overseas to visit relatives and then getting medical care while here? It could happen.
We can also expect that if Andrea Horwath becomes premier and declares Ontario a sanctuary province, more people would come for that very reason.
It happened with Trudeau’s tweet.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau tweeted out #WelcometoCanada in January 2017 and caused a stampede to our borders. The people coming into Canada illegally are costing hundreds of millions of dollars. Those costs will only rise as the number of people coming increase.
Toronto Mayor John Tory recently announced that his city is spending $64.5 million this year alone on emergency shelters due to the influx.
Encouraging bad behaviour gets you more bad behaviour.
Just as Trudeau’s tweet had people coming into Canada illegally, Horwath’s sanctuary promise, if enacted, will find us hosting more and more people taking advantage of the situation.
It worries health professionals like Dr. Kulvinder Gill, president of COD. Dr. Gill says adding so many more people — but not the means to pay for those people — will crush Ontario’s health system.
“In a system that is already broken, those are funds that are coming from the essential front-line care that already needs to be provided,” Dr. Gill said.
“Once we add on more burdens to an already broken system that is already being held together by duct tape, it’s going to fall apart.”
This NDP promise is reckless for so many reasons but the impact on our health-care system is perhaps the most important one.
LILLEY: Horwath’s sanctuary province would cost at least $2.5B annually | Toronto Sun
EDITORIAL: Horwath's should come clean on Sanctuary Ontario promise
Postmedia News
More from Postmedia News
Published:
June 5, 2018
Updated:
June 5, 2018 9:11 PM EDT
NDP Leader Andrea Horwath makes a campaign stop in Toronto, Ont. on Friday June 1, 2018. Dave Abel/Toronto Sun/Postmedia Network
Andrea Horwath’s proposal to turn Ontario into a sanctuary province will carry a $2.5-billion price tag for new health-care expenses, front-line physician group Concerned Doctors of Ontario says.
That’s not something the NDP leader has costed into her campaign platform.
It’s not something Horwath has been willing to discuss.
Instead, when questioned on her plan to “make local services accessible to all residents, regardless of their immigration status,” Horwath has responded with bumper sticker platitudes – variations of “it’s the right thing to do” or we “can’t afford not to.”
Those are deflections, not answers.
Making a political decision to make Ontario a sanctuary province is one thing. The cost of that decision is entirely another.
If Horwath believes her own campaign rhetoric, she needs to say what programs or services she plans to cut, or what taxes she plans to raise to pay for her promise to expand government programs to include, in the case of health-care coverage, a half-million undocumented residents according to CDO.
As it stands, her fiscal plan makes no allowance for that $2.5 billion in extra health-care spending on refugees and other non-citizens.
Nor does it account for the billions we’ll likely need to offer welfare, education and other provincial programs and services to anyone who asks. Sanctuary status will require changes to welfare, education and many other laws, including ordering police not to cooperate with deportations.
To be clear, this isn’t a discussion about the right or wrong thing to do.
Ontario already offers financial and other assistance to refugees to help get them get settled. It’s clearly difficult for families who flee here. They face significant hardship.
Doing more is a policy decision, one Horwath is entitled to make if she forms the next government.
But hiding the cost and implications of that policy decision, however, is cynical, misleading and politically dishonest, especially when you plan to finance most of your other promises on borrowed money and debt.
We know the City of Toronto faces $64.5 million in unexpected and unfunded costs this year to providing shelter and housing for the growing number of refugee claimants coming here.
Horwath needs to come clean on what programs an NDP government would fund, and how she would pay for them.
EDITORIAL: Horwath’s should come clean on Sanctuary Ontario promise | Toronto Sun
Canada has removed only a fraction of illegal asylum seekers
Canadian Press
More from Canadian Press
Published:
June 7, 2018
Updated:
June 7, 2018 4:41 PM EDT
A group of asylum seekers arrive at the temporary housing facilities at the border crossing Wednesday May 9, 2018 in St. Bernard-de-Lacolle, Quebec. Ryan Remiorz / THE CANADIAN PRESS
OTTAWA — Government data shows thousands of asylum seekers came into Canada illegally across the Canada-U.S. border through last year and the first quarter of this year, but only a fraction were removed from the country during that time.
Between Jan. 1, 2017 and March 31, 2018 only 135 individuals who made an asylum claim following an irregular entry were removed from the country, says information provided to the Commons committee on immigration.
During that same period, more than 5,000 asylum seekers arrived through unofficial entry points.
The government says border officials can only remove failed refugee claimants after they have exhausted all legal options available to try for refugee status, including applications to the Immigration and Refugee Board, appeals and other administrative measures.
“Everyone ordered removed from Canada is entitled to due process before the law,” said Scott Bardsley, press secretary for Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale.
“Once individuals have exhausted all legal avenues of appeal/due process, they are expected to respect our laws and leave Canada or be removed.”
But while the Canada Border Services Agency makes every effort to remove as many ineligible asylum claimants as possible, the vast majority of irregular border crossers are not ’removal ready,’ Bardsley added.
This could be because of a lack of travel documents, health concerns or travel restrictions.
Opposition immigration critic Michelle Rempel says she believes government is not doing enough to plan for an orderly immigration system and should be taking further measures to step up claims processing and removals so that irregular migrants do not wait in Canada for years as their asylum claims are processed.
She pointed to statements made by Immigration Minister Ahmed Hussen indicating more than 90 per cent of irregular migrants from Haiti have had their asylum claims rejected.
If that’s true, at the current rate it could be “decades” before all removals of illegal border crossers are complete, Rempel said.
A family, claiming to be from Colombia, is arrested by RCMP officers as they cross the border into Canada from the United States as asylum seekers on Wednesday, April 18, 2018 near Champlain, NY. Paul Chiasson / THE CANADIAN PRESS
“I think it’s a situation of both false hope and costs to the Canadian taxpayer in terms of making sure that people are fed and housed when they’re in Canada during this time that is concerning,” she said.
“To me it just shows the fact that government is not adequately managing the situation.”
The government says it is working to improve things.
In this year’s federal budget, the border agency was given $7.46 million to ensure that once rejected refugee claimants have exhausted all legal avenues of appeal, they can be removed promptly.
“Obviously, the requirements of due process need to be adhered to, but there have been some procedural changes that have been implemented,” Goodale told the House of Commons immigration committee last week.
“We’re also working very hard to get greater international co-operation on the necessary travel documents that need to be obtained in every case of the removal.”
Canada has removed only a fraction of illegal asylum seekers | Toronto Sun
Germany: Girl, 14, killed; fugitive Iraqi suspect sought
Associated Press
More from Associated Press
Published:
June 7, 2018
Updated:
June 7, 2018 6:55 PM EDT
The search photo provided by Wiesbaden, Germany, police shows 20-year-old Iraqi Ali Basar who is suspected of raping and killing a 14-years-old girl.Polizei Wiesbaden via AP
BERLIN — German authorities investigating the rape and murder of a 14-year-old girl said Thursday they are seeking a fugitive Iraqi asylum-seeker, but released a Turkish suspect in the latest high-profile criminal case involving migrants.
The body of the girl, who had been missing since May 22, was found Wednesday buried on the outskirts of the western German city of Wiesbaden.
Prosecutors initially told reporters at a news conference Thursday that two men — a 20-year-old Iraqi and a 35-year-old Turkish citizen, both of whom lived at homes for asylum-seekers in the city — were suspected of raping and killing the girl on the evening she went missing.
Later Thursday, prosecutors said they were withdrawing the arrest warrant for the Turkish man, who had been detained Wednesday evening, saying new information had emerged indicating the 35-year-old wasn’t urgently suspected of involvement in the crime.
Police said the Iraqi man, whom they identified as Ali Bashar, appeared to have left abruptly with his family last week, flying to Erbil, Iraq via Istanbul. He was a suspect in a string of previous offences in the area, including a robbery at knifepoint.
He’s believed to have arrived in Germany in October 2015, at the height of the migrant influx to Germany, and was appealing the rejection of his asylum application.
Police said a 13-year-old refugee boy went to a police station in Wiesbaden on Sunday and told officers the girl had been raped and killed, and named the Iraqi as a possible perpetrator.
Germany’s Central Council of Jews said the murdered girl — identified by police as Susanna Maria Feldman — was a member of the Jewish community in Mainz, near Wiesbaden. It called for a thorough investigation and warned in a statement against “premature conclusions.”
Previous killings by asylum-seekers in Germany have fanned tensions over the influx of more than a million migrants in 2015 and 2016, an issue that helped the far-right Alternative for Germany enter the German parliament last year.
The surge of migrants also sparked a rash of attacks on asylum-seekers’ homes, which has since tapered off.
In one case, two men were convicted Thursday in the southwestern city of Landau of setting fire to a home being built for asylum-seekers in the nearby town of Herxheim in 2015. They both received probation.
Germany: Girl, 14, killed; fugitive Iraqi suspect sought | Toronto Sun
Canadian Press
More from Canadian Press
Published:
June 7, 2018
Updated:
June 7, 2018 4:41 PM EDT
A group of asylum seekers arrive at the temporary housing facilities at the border crossing Wednesday May 9, 2018 in St. Bernard-de-Lacolle, Quebec. Ryan Remiorz / THE CANADIAN PRESS
OTTAWA — Government data shows thousands of asylum seekers came into Canada illegally across the Canada-U.S. border through last year and the first quarter of this year, but only a fraction were removed from the country during that time.
Between Jan. 1, 2017 and March 31, 2018 only 135 individuals who made an asylum claim following an irregular entry were removed from the country, says information provided to the Commons committee on immigration.
During that same period, more than 5,000 asylum seekers arrived through unofficial entry points.
The government says border officials can only remove failed refugee claimants after they have exhausted all legal options available to try for refugee status, including applications to the Immigration and Refugee Board, appeals and other administrative measures.
“Everyone ordered removed from Canada is entitled to due process before the law,” said Scott Bardsley, press secretary for Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale.
“Once individuals have exhausted all legal avenues of appeal/due process, they are expected to respect our laws and leave Canada or be removed.”
But while the Canada Border Services Agency makes every effort to remove as many ineligible asylum claimants as possible, the vast majority of irregular border crossers are not ’removal ready,’ Bardsley added.
This could be because of a lack of travel documents, health concerns or travel restrictions.
Opposition immigration critic Michelle Rempel says she believes government is not doing enough to plan for an orderly immigration system and should be taking further measures to step up claims processing and removals so that irregular migrants do not wait in Canada for years as their asylum claims are processed.
She pointed to statements made by Immigration Minister Ahmed Hussen indicating more than 90 per cent of irregular migrants from Haiti have had their asylum claims rejected.
If that’s true, at the current rate it could be “decades” before all removals of illegal border crossers are complete, Rempel said.
A family, claiming to be from Colombia, is arrested by RCMP officers as they cross the border into Canada from the United States as asylum seekers on Wednesday, April 18, 2018 near Champlain, NY. Paul Chiasson / THE CANADIAN PRESS
“I think it’s a situation of both false hope and costs to the Canadian taxpayer in terms of making sure that people are fed and housed when they’re in Canada during this time that is concerning,” she said.
“To me it just shows the fact that government is not adequately managing the situation.”
The government says it is working to improve things.
In this year’s federal budget, the border agency was given $7.46 million to ensure that once rejected refugee claimants have exhausted all legal avenues of appeal, they can be removed promptly.
“Obviously, the requirements of due process need to be adhered to, but there have been some procedural changes that have been implemented,” Goodale told the House of Commons immigration committee last week.
“We’re also working very hard to get greater international co-operation on the necessary travel documents that need to be obtained in every case of the removal.”
Canada has removed only a fraction of illegal asylum seekers | Toronto Sun
Germany: Girl, 14, killed; fugitive Iraqi suspect sought
Associated Press
More from Associated Press
Published:
June 7, 2018
Updated:
June 7, 2018 6:55 PM EDT
The search photo provided by Wiesbaden, Germany, police shows 20-year-old Iraqi Ali Basar who is suspected of raping and killing a 14-years-old girl.Polizei Wiesbaden via AP
BERLIN — German authorities investigating the rape and murder of a 14-year-old girl said Thursday they are seeking a fugitive Iraqi asylum-seeker, but released a Turkish suspect in the latest high-profile criminal case involving migrants.
The body of the girl, who had been missing since May 22, was found Wednesday buried on the outskirts of the western German city of Wiesbaden.
Prosecutors initially told reporters at a news conference Thursday that two men — a 20-year-old Iraqi and a 35-year-old Turkish citizen, both of whom lived at homes for asylum-seekers in the city — were suspected of raping and killing the girl on the evening she went missing.
Later Thursday, prosecutors said they were withdrawing the arrest warrant for the Turkish man, who had been detained Wednesday evening, saying new information had emerged indicating the 35-year-old wasn’t urgently suspected of involvement in the crime.
Police said the Iraqi man, whom they identified as Ali Bashar, appeared to have left abruptly with his family last week, flying to Erbil, Iraq via Istanbul. He was a suspect in a string of previous offences in the area, including a robbery at knifepoint.
He’s believed to have arrived in Germany in October 2015, at the height of the migrant influx to Germany, and was appealing the rejection of his asylum application.
Police said a 13-year-old refugee boy went to a police station in Wiesbaden on Sunday and told officers the girl had been raped and killed, and named the Iraqi as a possible perpetrator.
Germany’s Central Council of Jews said the murdered girl — identified by police as Susanna Maria Feldman — was a member of the Jewish community in Mainz, near Wiesbaden. It called for a thorough investigation and warned in a statement against “premature conclusions.”
Previous killings by asylum-seekers in Germany have fanned tensions over the influx of more than a million migrants in 2015 and 2016, an issue that helped the far-right Alternative for Germany enter the German parliament last year.
The surge of migrants also sparked a rash of attacks on asylum-seekers’ homes, which has since tapered off.
In one case, two men were convicted Thursday in the southwestern city of Landau of setting fire to a home being built for asylum-seekers in the nearby town of Herxheim in 2015. They both received probation.
Germany: Girl, 14, killed; fugitive Iraqi suspect sought | Toronto Sun
Scheer calls for renegotiated Safe Third Country Agreement
Canadian Press
More from Canadian Press
Published:
June 8, 2018
Updated:
June 8, 2018 6:58 PM EDT
Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer speaks to reporters after a caucus meeting on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Wednesday, June 6, 2018. Patrick Doyle / THE CANADIAN PRESS
SAINT-BERNARD-DE-LACOLLE, Que. — Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer is banking on diplomacy with the United States to reduce the number of asylum seekers who enter Canada illegally.
Scheer says the solution to the problem lies in a renegotiation of the Safe Third Country Agreement between Canada and the United States.
The agreement allows both countries to turn back asylum seekers at border crossings except when they enter through an illegal point of entry.
Scheer says there are people in refugee camps in Africa and the Middle East who are more deserving of being allowed to enter Canada.
The Tory leader visited the Quebec border town of Saint-Bernard-de-Lacolle on Friday as well as the nearby Roxham Road crossing where thousands of people have entered Canada illegally.
He took direct aim at Justin Trudeau, saying the crisis was caused by the prime minister’s tweet in January 2017 that Canada would welcome people fleeing persecution, terror and war.
“It’s clear that all the ideas proposed so far, since the famous tweet of Justin Trudeau where he said all are welcome…that everything the government has proposed up till now is just to manage the symptoms of the crisis but not to address the cause in the first place,” he said.
Scheer also criticized the installations that have been built at the border to welcome the asylum seekers.
“There really is an air of permanence,” he said.
“The buildings that have been installed, the systems that have been installed, it seems to us that without solving the root causes of this problem.. that these installations will become more and more permanent.”
Scheer calls for renegotiated Safe Third Country Agreement | Toronto Sun
Canadian Press
More from Canadian Press
Published:
June 8, 2018
Updated:
June 8, 2018 6:58 PM EDT
Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer speaks to reporters after a caucus meeting on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Wednesday, June 6, 2018. Patrick Doyle / THE CANADIAN PRESS
SAINT-BERNARD-DE-LACOLLE, Que. — Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer is banking on diplomacy with the United States to reduce the number of asylum seekers who enter Canada illegally.
Scheer says the solution to the problem lies in a renegotiation of the Safe Third Country Agreement between Canada and the United States.
The agreement allows both countries to turn back asylum seekers at border crossings except when they enter through an illegal point of entry.
Scheer says there are people in refugee camps in Africa and the Middle East who are more deserving of being allowed to enter Canada.
The Tory leader visited the Quebec border town of Saint-Bernard-de-Lacolle on Friday as well as the nearby Roxham Road crossing where thousands of people have entered Canada illegally.
He took direct aim at Justin Trudeau, saying the crisis was caused by the prime minister’s tweet in January 2017 that Canada would welcome people fleeing persecution, terror and war.
“It’s clear that all the ideas proposed so far, since the famous tweet of Justin Trudeau where he said all are welcome…that everything the government has proposed up till now is just to manage the symptoms of the crisis but not to address the cause in the first place,” he said.
Scheer also criticized the installations that have been built at the border to welcome the asylum seekers.
“There really is an air of permanence,” he said.
“The buildings that have been installed, the systems that have been installed, it seems to us that without solving the root causes of this problem.. that these installations will become more and more permanent.”
Scheer calls for renegotiated Safe Third Country Agreement | Toronto Sun
Judge temporarily blocks deportation of Brooklyn pizza worker | Toronto Sun
Suspect in 14-year-old girl's killing returned to Germany from Iraq
Associated Press
More from Associated Press
Published:
June 9, 2018
Updated:
June 9, 2018 9:12 PM EDT
The search photo provided by Wiesbaden, western Germany, police shows 20-years-old Iraqi Ali Basar who is suspected of raping and killing a 14-year-old girl.Polizei Wiesbaden via AP
FRANKFURT — Germany’s interior minister says an Iraqi asylum-seeker sought in the killing of a 14-year-old girl has been returned to face charges after fleeing to his native country.
Interior Minister Horst Seehofer tweeted that Ali Bashar, 20, had been flown back to Germany Saturday after being arrested in northern Iraq.
Germany: Girl, 14, killed; fugitive Iraqi suspect sought
Bashar abruptly left Germany with his family last week, flying to Erbil, Iraq. The girl, identified publicly as Susanna F., had been missing since May 22 before she was found buried on the outskirts of the city on Wednesday.
Killings by asylum-seekers in Germany have fanned tensions over the influx of more than a million migrants in 2015 and 2016, helping the anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany enter the German parliament last year.
Suspect in 14-year-old girl’s killing returned to Germany from Iraq | Toronto Sun
Suspect in 14-year-old girl's killing returned to Germany from Iraq
Associated Press
More from Associated Press
Published:
June 9, 2018
Updated:
June 9, 2018 9:12 PM EDT
The search photo provided by Wiesbaden, western Germany, police shows 20-years-old Iraqi Ali Basar who is suspected of raping and killing a 14-year-old girl.Polizei Wiesbaden via AP
FRANKFURT — Germany’s interior minister says an Iraqi asylum-seeker sought in the killing of a 14-year-old girl has been returned to face charges after fleeing to his native country.
Interior Minister Horst Seehofer tweeted that Ali Bashar, 20, had been flown back to Germany Saturday after being arrested in northern Iraq.
Germany: Girl, 14, killed; fugitive Iraqi suspect sought
Bashar abruptly left Germany with his family last week, flying to Erbil, Iraq. The girl, identified publicly as Susanna F., had been missing since May 22 before she was found buried on the outskirts of the city on Wednesday.
Killings by asylum-seekers in Germany have fanned tensions over the influx of more than a million migrants in 2015 and 2016, helping the anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany enter the German parliament last year.
Suspect in 14-year-old girl’s killing returned to Germany from Iraq | Toronto Sun
German police say Iraqi suspect confessed to killing girl
Associated Press
More from Associated Press
Published:
June 10, 2018
Updated:
June 10, 2018 8:57 PM EDT
In this Saturday, June 9, 2018 photo police officers guide the suspect Ali B. in front of the police hedquarters in Wiesbaden, Germany. Ali B., an Iraqi asylum-seeker sought in the killing of a 14-year-old girl, has been returned to face charges after fleeing to his native country.Boris Roessler / AP
FRANKFURT — Police said Sunday that a 20-year-old asylum-seeker admitted killing a 14-year-old girl in a case that has stirred up debate over Germany’s immigration policies.
Police in the town of Wiesbaden said Ali Bashar made the admission after he was extradited the previous day from Iraq. Bashar and his family abruptly left a home for asylum applicants in Germany after the girl’s slaying.
Police said the body of Susanna Maria Feldman was found buried on the outskirts of the town Wednesday. She had been missing since May 22.
A picture of Susanna Maria Feldman is placed among flowers at a makeshift memorial at the site where the 14-year-old girl has been allegedly raped and murdered by an Iraqi asylum seeker in Wiesbaden, Germany, on June 8, 2018. BORIS ROESSLER / AFP/Getty Images
Wiesbaden police said Bashar claimed the girl suffered facial injuries in a fall and he feared she would inform authorities. Bashar repeated his statement in front of a judge, who ordered him held pending investigation.
Police said Bashar was a suspect in a string of previous offences in the area, including a robbery at knifepoint. He is believed to have arrived in Germany in October 2015 at the height of the migrant influx to Germany and was appealing the rejection of his asylum application.
The search photo provided by Wiesbaden, western Germany, police shows 20-years-old Iraqi Ali Basar who is suspected of raping and killing a 14-year-old girl. Polizei Wiesbaden via AP
The dpa news agency reported that German Chancellor Angela Merkel said in a televised interview Sunday night that “the case showed how important it is that people who have no permission to remain must receive their court proceedings without delay and be sent home quickly.”
Alice Weidel, a leader of the anti-immigration Alternative for Germany Party, said last week that Merkel should resign over the case. A legislator from the party used his speaking time in parliament for an unannounced minute of silence for Susanna, leading to accusations from other lawmakers that the party was exploiting the girl’s death for political purposes.
Previous killings by asylum-seekers in Germany have fanned tensions over the influx of more than a million migrants from places like Afghanistan and Syria in 2015 and 2016, an issue that helped the far-right Alternative for Germany Party enter the German parliament last year.
Suspect in 14-year-old girl’s killing returned to Germany from Iraq
German police say Iraqi suspect confessed to killing girl | Toronto Sun
Associated Press
More from Associated Press
Published:
June 10, 2018
Updated:
June 10, 2018 8:57 PM EDT
In this Saturday, June 9, 2018 photo police officers guide the suspect Ali B. in front of the police hedquarters in Wiesbaden, Germany. Ali B., an Iraqi asylum-seeker sought in the killing of a 14-year-old girl, has been returned to face charges after fleeing to his native country.Boris Roessler / AP
FRANKFURT — Police said Sunday that a 20-year-old asylum-seeker admitted killing a 14-year-old girl in a case that has stirred up debate over Germany’s immigration policies.
Police in the town of Wiesbaden said Ali Bashar made the admission after he was extradited the previous day from Iraq. Bashar and his family abruptly left a home for asylum applicants in Germany after the girl’s slaying.
Police said the body of Susanna Maria Feldman was found buried on the outskirts of the town Wednesday. She had been missing since May 22.
A picture of Susanna Maria Feldman is placed among flowers at a makeshift memorial at the site where the 14-year-old girl has been allegedly raped and murdered by an Iraqi asylum seeker in Wiesbaden, Germany, on June 8, 2018. BORIS ROESSLER / AFP/Getty Images
Wiesbaden police said Bashar claimed the girl suffered facial injuries in a fall and he feared she would inform authorities. Bashar repeated his statement in front of a judge, who ordered him held pending investigation.
Police said Bashar was a suspect in a string of previous offences in the area, including a robbery at knifepoint. He is believed to have arrived in Germany in October 2015 at the height of the migrant influx to Germany and was appealing the rejection of his asylum application.
The search photo provided by Wiesbaden, western Germany, police shows 20-years-old Iraqi Ali Basar who is suspected of raping and killing a 14-year-old girl. Polizei Wiesbaden via AP
The dpa news agency reported that German Chancellor Angela Merkel said in a televised interview Sunday night that “the case showed how important it is that people who have no permission to remain must receive their court proceedings without delay and be sent home quickly.”
Alice Weidel, a leader of the anti-immigration Alternative for Germany Party, said last week that Merkel should resign over the case. A legislator from the party used his speaking time in parliament for an unannounced minute of silence for Susanna, leading to accusations from other lawmakers that the party was exploiting the girl’s death for political purposes.
Previous killings by asylum-seekers in Germany have fanned tensions over the influx of more than a million migrants from places like Afghanistan and Syria in 2015 and 2016, an issue that helped the far-right Alternative for Germany Party enter the German parliament last year.
Suspect in 14-year-old girl’s killing returned to Germany from Iraq
German police say Iraqi suspect confessed to killing girl | Toronto Sun
LEVY: Next on tap for Toronto: Refugee camps
Sue-Ann Levy
More from Sue-Ann Levy
Published:
June 12, 2018
Updated:
June 12, 2018 7:17 PM EDT
Asylum seekers cross the Canadian border at Champlain, N.Y., Friday, August 4, 2017. Ryan Remiorz/The Canadian Press
Following fast on the heels of using hockey arenas, hotels and buying $7-million buildings to house the homeless and refugees, Toronto’s shelter officials have come up with yet another bright idea.
I’d like to introduce you to Toronto’s version of a refugee camp — one which will cost $10-million and will be comprised of pre-fab structures erected on vacant city property.
This idea and the plan to add 1,000 more beds in 13 new locations (plus an additional 951 replacement beds) by 2020 — more bandaids to house the homeless — will be discussed at the city’s community services committee Wednesday.
There will be four such refugee camps in Toronto — two somewhere in downtown Toronto, one in the west end and one in the east end.
Although the addresses have not yet been divulged publicly, I can confirm that one such refugee camp will be located in Coun. John Campbell’s Etobicoke ward, and another in the Scarborough ward of Coun. Glenn DeBaeremaeker. According to shelter spokesman Patricia Anderson, the locations were selected based on the availability of city land and their proximity to transit and social services.
Anderson also confirmed Tuesday the four structures — costing $2.5 million each — will be insulated, have full plumbing for washrooms, showers and laundry facilities as well as electrical and HVAC systems that “provide year-round comfort.” They can be constructed in eight to 10 weeks and “repurposed to meet other community needs,” she added.
Asked why pre-fabs, Anderson said the need for “low-barrier, 24-hour respite service” still exists and they are using the temporary structures because of cost-effectiveness and flexibility of use, speed of acquisition and installation.
The idea was floated out last week on the day before the provincial election when few media were paying attention.
No surprise there.
A Toronto homeless shelter. (Toronto Sun files)
I believe Mayor John Tory and the city’s shelter officials — in an attempt to manage a crisis partly of their own making (can we say Sanctuary City?) — really have little clue how to deal with the influx of refugees into the city.
It’s kind of like the blind leading the blind.
Heaven knows how much city money will be expended on warehousing them so the politicians and the mayor can virtue signal as to how wonderful they are before the municipal election.
Never mind how much impact any of these low-barrier sites have on the surrounding neighbourhoods. I’m sick to death hearing the stories of the lawlessness around the shelters on Davenport Rd. and 21 Park Rd., not to mention the Dundas and Victoria safe injection site and that our politicians have done nothing.
Coun. James Pasternak, chairman of the community services committee, said he was taken to see samples of the structure last week and was concerned that this is already a fait accompli without any input by the committee or council.
“They made a sole-sourced deal and did it without council approval,” he said. “I think this is going too far.”
No kidding.
Campbell, who also attended last week’s tour, said city officials certainly didn’t consult with him and he’d rather this pre-fab was somewhere else.
But he said he’s “accepting the reality” as long as it’s temporary short-term accommodation.
Good luck on that one.
I’ve said it before but it’s worth repeating: If you build it they will come.
There is another answer, and that involves saying no more.
It’s time surrounding GTA cities took their fair share and that the mayor and council stop expecting property taxpayers to foot the bill.
But that means having the guts to do so and cojones are pretty much absent at city hall.
SLevy@postmedia.com
LEVY: Next on tap for Toronto: Refugee camps | Toronto Sun
Sue-Ann Levy
More from Sue-Ann Levy
Published:
June 12, 2018
Updated:
June 12, 2018 7:17 PM EDT
Asylum seekers cross the Canadian border at Champlain, N.Y., Friday, August 4, 2017. Ryan Remiorz/The Canadian Press
Following fast on the heels of using hockey arenas, hotels and buying $7-million buildings to house the homeless and refugees, Toronto’s shelter officials have come up with yet another bright idea.
I’d like to introduce you to Toronto’s version of a refugee camp — one which will cost $10-million and will be comprised of pre-fab structures erected on vacant city property.
This idea and the plan to add 1,000 more beds in 13 new locations (plus an additional 951 replacement beds) by 2020 — more bandaids to house the homeless — will be discussed at the city’s community services committee Wednesday.
There will be four such refugee camps in Toronto — two somewhere in downtown Toronto, one in the west end and one in the east end.
Although the addresses have not yet been divulged publicly, I can confirm that one such refugee camp will be located in Coun. John Campbell’s Etobicoke ward, and another in the Scarborough ward of Coun. Glenn DeBaeremaeker. According to shelter spokesman Patricia Anderson, the locations were selected based on the availability of city land and their proximity to transit and social services.
Anderson also confirmed Tuesday the four structures — costing $2.5 million each — will be insulated, have full plumbing for washrooms, showers and laundry facilities as well as electrical and HVAC systems that “provide year-round comfort.” They can be constructed in eight to 10 weeks and “repurposed to meet other community needs,” she added.
Asked why pre-fabs, Anderson said the need for “low-barrier, 24-hour respite service” still exists and they are using the temporary structures because of cost-effectiveness and flexibility of use, speed of acquisition and installation.
The idea was floated out last week on the day before the provincial election when few media were paying attention.
No surprise there.
A Toronto homeless shelter. (Toronto Sun files)
I believe Mayor John Tory and the city’s shelter officials — in an attempt to manage a crisis partly of their own making (can we say Sanctuary City?) — really have little clue how to deal with the influx of refugees into the city.
It’s kind of like the blind leading the blind.
Heaven knows how much city money will be expended on warehousing them so the politicians and the mayor can virtue signal as to how wonderful they are before the municipal election.
Never mind how much impact any of these low-barrier sites have on the surrounding neighbourhoods. I’m sick to death hearing the stories of the lawlessness around the shelters on Davenport Rd. and 21 Park Rd., not to mention the Dundas and Victoria safe injection site and that our politicians have done nothing.
Coun. James Pasternak, chairman of the community services committee, said he was taken to see samples of the structure last week and was concerned that this is already a fait accompli without any input by the committee or council.
“They made a sole-sourced deal and did it without council approval,” he said. “I think this is going too far.”
No kidding.
Campbell, who also attended last week’s tour, said city officials certainly didn’t consult with him and he’d rather this pre-fab was somewhere else.
But he said he’s “accepting the reality” as long as it’s temporary short-term accommodation.
Good luck on that one.
I’ve said it before but it’s worth repeating: If you build it they will come.
There is another answer, and that involves saying no more.
It’s time surrounding GTA cities took their fair share and that the mayor and council stop expecting property taxpayers to foot the bill.
But that means having the guts to do so and cojones are pretty much absent at city hall.
SLevy@postmedia.com
LEVY: Next on tap for Toronto: Refugee camps | Toronto Sun
Gal pal orchestrated grisly murder, posted video to Snapchat
Brad Hunter
More from Brad Hunter
Published:
June 13, 2018
Updated:
June 13, 2018 5:52 PM EDT
Murder victim Khalid Safi was allegedly lured to his death by his girlfriend. She then posted video of him dying on Snapchat.METROPOLITAN POLICE
A refugee’s life ended on the streets of London in an evil plot orchestrated by his Snapchat-obsessed girlfriend.
A London court heard how Khalid Safi, 18, showered his lover Fatima Khan, 20, with gifts and sweet messages.
Cops say she repaid his devotion by convincing Raza Khan, 19, to stab Safi to death. Khan then filmed his agonizing death and posted on social media.
Video footage of Khalid Safi dying was posted on Snapchat by his evil girlfriend. METROPOLITAN POLICE
Her chilling post included this message: “This is what happens when you f*** with me.”
Safi had been stabbed nine times, the court heard and was engaged in an on-again-off-again relationship with the accused killer for two years.
But she became so enraged with her paramour, she demanded that Khan snuff his life out on Dec. 1, 2017. That night she posted the grisly incident on Snapchat.
The British media has been all over the trial of Fatima Khan, 20, who is accused of orchestrating her boyfriends murder — then posting sickening video of his death on Snapchat. THE SUN
On the day of the slaying, she begged him on WhatsApp: “I only want to see you for the last time”.
The messages were wiped from Khan’s iPhone device before it was eventually seized and detectives managed to recover the incriminating data.
Khan has denied any role in the slaying or the conspiracy that birthed the tragedy.
Her accused hitman has vanished and cops are still hunting him.
Gal pal orchestrated grisly murder, posted video to Snapchat | Toronto Sun
Brad Hunter
More from Brad Hunter
Published:
June 13, 2018
Updated:
June 13, 2018 5:52 PM EDT
Murder victim Khalid Safi was allegedly lured to his death by his girlfriend. She then posted video of him dying on Snapchat.METROPOLITAN POLICE
A refugee’s life ended on the streets of London in an evil plot orchestrated by his Snapchat-obsessed girlfriend.
A London court heard how Khalid Safi, 18, showered his lover Fatima Khan, 20, with gifts and sweet messages.
Cops say she repaid his devotion by convincing Raza Khan, 19, to stab Safi to death. Khan then filmed his agonizing death and posted on social media.
Video footage of Khalid Safi dying was posted on Snapchat by his evil girlfriend. METROPOLITAN POLICE
Her chilling post included this message: “This is what happens when you f*** with me.”
Safi had been stabbed nine times, the court heard and was engaged in an on-again-off-again relationship with the accused killer for two years.
But she became so enraged with her paramour, she demanded that Khan snuff his life out on Dec. 1, 2017. That night she posted the grisly incident on Snapchat.
The British media has been all over the trial of Fatima Khan, 20, who is accused of orchestrating her boyfriends murder — then posting sickening video of his death on Snapchat. THE SUN
On the day of the slaying, she begged him on WhatsApp: “I only want to see you for the last time”.
The messages were wiped from Khan’s iPhone device before it was eventually seized and detectives managed to recover the incriminating data.
Khan has denied any role in the slaying or the conspiracy that birthed the tragedy.
Her accused hitman has vanished and cops are still hunting him.
Gal pal orchestrated grisly murder, posted video to Snapchat | Toronto Sun
Embassy angered by Tory MP linking Mexican visitors to illegal drug trade
Canadian Press
More from Canadian Press
Published:
June 15, 2018
Updated:
June 15, 2018 11:21 AM EDT
Conservative MP Marilyn Gladu rises in the House of Commons in Ottawa on Friday, May 6, 2016. (The Canadian Press/Adrian Wyld)
OTTAWA — The Mexican government is taking a Conservative MP to task for implying that many Mexican visitors to Canada are involved in the illegal drug trade.
Sarnia, Ont., MP Marilyn Gladu made the suggestion Wednesday during debate on the Trudeau government’s bill to legalize recreational marijuana.
Her reference to Mexicans came as she was arguing that legalization will actually be a boon for the illicit black market in cannabis — contrary to the government’s contention that it will displace organized crime.
She said legal pot will be more expensive than the “going price” of $7 per gram on the black market. And she slammed the government for allowing individuals to grow up to four marijuana plants per dwelling, arguing that organized crime has increased in Colorado because it allows home-grown weed.
“We can see how profitable organized crime has been there,” she told the House of Commons.
Then Gladu added: “By the way, the government also eliminated the visa requirements for people coming in from Mexico, so lots of experienced people could just move in and take over the whole thing.”
The Mexican embassy hit back in a written statement.
“The embassy strongly disagrees and rejects any assertion that singles out or pretends to portray Mexicans as criminals,” it said.
“Comments based on stereotypes are inaccurate and hurt the dignity of the Mexican people and should be avoided.”
In an interview, Gladu initially doubled down on her comments.
“I would point to some of the statistics that we had before the visa (requirement) was lifted,” she said.
“There were about 9,000 (Mexicans) that were coming to Canada and it was costing us about $15,000 and taking about six months before they were deported and there was a large percentage that were of the criminal element.”
She appeared to be referring to the fact that 9,462 Mexicans sought asylum in Canada in 2008 — more than half of whom were rejected for not having valid refugee claims.
The following year, Stephen Harper’s Conservative government imposed a visa requirement on Mexicans wanting to enter Canada. It justified the move by pointing to an increase in bogus asylum claims from Mexicans whom the government argued were really economic migrants, not refugees fleeing persecution. Keeping criminals out of the country was not a big part of the rationale.
The Liberal government lifted the visa requirement in 2016.
“Now, they don’t know who’s coming in,” Gladu said in the interview. “Certainly, everyone has seen too many movies with drug cartels but it’s rife in Mexico.”
According to intelligence reports obtained by Global News last year, dropping the visa requirement did indeed lead to an increase in Mexican criminals trying to enter Canada — although they remained a tiny fraction of overall Mexican travellers to the country.
Just 0.25 per cent of the 156,000 Mexican nationals who entered Canada between 2012 and 2015, when visas were required, were implicated in crime, Global reported, including 29 linked to organized criminal groups, another eight with “possible links” and “likely more” who hadn’t been identified.
Midway through 2017, after the visa requirement was lifted, Global reported that the Canada Border Services Agency had already identified 65 Mexican nationals it said were involved in “serious” crimes. Another 15 were cited for national security reasons.
However, that same year, the overall number of Mexican visitors to Canada increased by 45 per cent, the embassy said in its statement, adding that the numbers grew by another 27 per cent in the first quarter of 2018. In addition, it said more than 25,000 Mexican agricultural workers come every year to work on Canadian farms.
“There is no basis to sustain any link, whatsoever, between increased mobility and criminal activity. Both Mexican tourists and seasonal workers contribute to the Canadian economy.”
Asked if she had any second thoughts about her reference to Mexicans during Wednesday’s debate, Gladu suggested her comments were made “in the passion of making your speech.”
“I wouldn’t say the Mexicans are more prone to drug crimes than the organized crime we already have in Canada,” she said.
“We have a $9-billion marijuana business operating today illegally in the country so we certainly have our own home-grown criminals, if you could call them that.”
Embassy angered by Tory MP linking Mexican visitors to illegal drug trade | Toronto Sun
Canadian Press
More from Canadian Press
Published:
June 15, 2018
Updated:
June 15, 2018 11:21 AM EDT
Conservative MP Marilyn Gladu rises in the House of Commons in Ottawa on Friday, May 6, 2016. (The Canadian Press/Adrian Wyld)
OTTAWA — The Mexican government is taking a Conservative MP to task for implying that many Mexican visitors to Canada are involved in the illegal drug trade.
Sarnia, Ont., MP Marilyn Gladu made the suggestion Wednesday during debate on the Trudeau government’s bill to legalize recreational marijuana.
Her reference to Mexicans came as she was arguing that legalization will actually be a boon for the illicit black market in cannabis — contrary to the government’s contention that it will displace organized crime.
She said legal pot will be more expensive than the “going price” of $7 per gram on the black market. And she slammed the government for allowing individuals to grow up to four marijuana plants per dwelling, arguing that organized crime has increased in Colorado because it allows home-grown weed.
“We can see how profitable organized crime has been there,” she told the House of Commons.
Then Gladu added: “By the way, the government also eliminated the visa requirements for people coming in from Mexico, so lots of experienced people could just move in and take over the whole thing.”
The Mexican embassy hit back in a written statement.
“The embassy strongly disagrees and rejects any assertion that singles out or pretends to portray Mexicans as criminals,” it said.
“Comments based on stereotypes are inaccurate and hurt the dignity of the Mexican people and should be avoided.”
In an interview, Gladu initially doubled down on her comments.
“I would point to some of the statistics that we had before the visa (requirement) was lifted,” she said.
“There were about 9,000 (Mexicans) that were coming to Canada and it was costing us about $15,000 and taking about six months before they were deported and there was a large percentage that were of the criminal element.”
She appeared to be referring to the fact that 9,462 Mexicans sought asylum in Canada in 2008 — more than half of whom were rejected for not having valid refugee claims.
The following year, Stephen Harper’s Conservative government imposed a visa requirement on Mexicans wanting to enter Canada. It justified the move by pointing to an increase in bogus asylum claims from Mexicans whom the government argued were really economic migrants, not refugees fleeing persecution. Keeping criminals out of the country was not a big part of the rationale.
The Liberal government lifted the visa requirement in 2016.
“Now, they don’t know who’s coming in,” Gladu said in the interview. “Certainly, everyone has seen too many movies with drug cartels but it’s rife in Mexico.”
According to intelligence reports obtained by Global News last year, dropping the visa requirement did indeed lead to an increase in Mexican criminals trying to enter Canada — although they remained a tiny fraction of overall Mexican travellers to the country.
Just 0.25 per cent of the 156,000 Mexican nationals who entered Canada between 2012 and 2015, when visas were required, were implicated in crime, Global reported, including 29 linked to organized criminal groups, another eight with “possible links” and “likely more” who hadn’t been identified.
Midway through 2017, after the visa requirement was lifted, Global reported that the Canada Border Services Agency had already identified 65 Mexican nationals it said were involved in “serious” crimes. Another 15 were cited for national security reasons.
However, that same year, the overall number of Mexican visitors to Canada increased by 45 per cent, the embassy said in its statement, adding that the numbers grew by another 27 per cent in the first quarter of 2018. In addition, it said more than 25,000 Mexican agricultural workers come every year to work on Canadian farms.
“There is no basis to sustain any link, whatsoever, between increased mobility and criminal activity. Both Mexican tourists and seasonal workers contribute to the Canadian economy.”
Asked if she had any second thoughts about her reference to Mexicans during Wednesday’s debate, Gladu suggested her comments were made “in the passion of making your speech.”
“I wouldn’t say the Mexicans are more prone to drug crimes than the organized crime we already have in Canada,” she said.
“We have a $9-billion marijuana business operating today illegally in the country so we certainly have our own home-grown criminals, if you could call them that.”
Embassy angered by Tory MP linking Mexican visitors to illegal drug trade | Toronto Sun