Pressure grows on government to show common sense and halt deportations of international students

The support for international students (mostly from Punjab) who are demanding cancellation of their deportation, is gaining strength across Canada.
The students have been staging a 24-hr protest in front of the CBSA office at 6900 Airport Road in Mississauga. Both Conservative and NDP leaders have also stepped in to support the students and asked government to stop their deportation.
In a symbolic move, the all-party immigration committee voted unanimously on Wednesday to call on the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) to waive the inadmissibility of the affected students, The Toronto Star newspaper reported.
The committee also asked the CBSA to provide the students with an alternative pathway to permanent residence on humanitarian grounds or through a “regularisation” programme, the report said.
According to media reports, a batch of international students who studied in Canada were issued fraudulent college acceptance letters by dishonest consultants. IRCC failed to identify these fake letters and issued valid Canadian study visas based on fraudulent college acceptance letters.
Students came to Canada on these study visas and were further manipulated by these dishonest agents who told them their colleges of choice were full and directed them to smaller college alternatives. Although the exact number of students affected is unknown, it is estimated that hundreds of students are now being threatened with deportation by CBSA after the students submitted applications for permanent residency. Only then were proper verifications conducted by government officials.
Several Conservative MPs wrote letter to Canada’s immigration Minister and the Standing Committee and on Citizenship and Immigration to investigate this matter and discover how these fraudulent admissions letters were approved by IRCC during the study visa application process and why there were no proper safeguards in place to protect these prospective students.
NDP Critic for Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Jenny Kwan (Vancouver East) said that she wrote to the Minister of Immigration and the Minister of Public Safety to urge the government to immediately stay the deportation of all affected students, waive inadmissibility on the basis of misrepresentation, and provide them with a pathway to permanent status. “I have been informed that there are currently over 150 of these students who now have a deportation order dated for next week on May 29th. Some of these students have already spent half a decade living in Canada and paid international tuition fees to complete their studies. Many are now working in essential frontline jobs. These students should not be punished for the actions of a fraudulent agent. It would be unjust and harmful to deport the students whose lives are now established in Canada.”
In the 42nd Parliament, the Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration undertook a study and issued a report Starting Again: Improving Government Oversight of Immigration Consultants. The testimony from individuals who were taken advantage of by bad actors, including ghost consultants, was devastating. One of the recommendations to government, in part, was to ensure that applicants be given the opportunity to review and correct the errors or misrepresentations made by the ghost consultant.
Immigration Minister Sean Fraser responding to the concerns said, “We are actively pursuing a solution for international students who are facing uncertainty due to having been admitted to Canada with fraudulent college admission letters. Those who have taken advantage of people genuinely hoping to study here will face consequences for their actions.”
Innocent victims will be given every opportunity to have their case considered fairly. Due to the complexity of the situation, we remain committed to working with CBSA to determine a fair outcome, he added.