Canada’s Public Safety Minister says he is confident in the work of agencies charged with detaining and removing people who are in the country illegally and preventing security threats from crossing into the United States, but will increase resources to do so. comply with the law if necessary.
Dominic LeBlanc says the work of the RCMP and the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) should demonstrate to the incoming administration of Donald Trump, whose newly appointed “border czar” has called the Canada-U.S. border a “huge national security issue,” that Ottawa shares your concerns about border security.
“I’m very confident in the work they can do with their American counterparts, and we will assure the American administration that we are prepared to do whatever work is necessary,” LeBlanc told Mercedes Stephenson in an interview broadcast Sunday night. The west block.
The government has come under pressure from opposition parties and provinces over its plan to add additional resources at the U.S.-Canada border in anticipation of a possible surge in people seeking to enter Canada from the United States, where Trump has promised mass deportations and crackdown on asylum applications. .
LeBlanc said the government is ready to provide whatever is needed, but noted that all agencies have been preparing for a future Trump administration for some time.
“We recognize the increased public attention around some of the incoming administration’s proposals,” he said. “That’s why they’ve been preparing literally for months in terms of scenario planning. And I am confident that they are prepared to do the job that Canadians expect them to do.”
The concerns have also prompted scrutiny of Canada’s immigration enforcement and enforcement measures to expel people whose temporary visas have expired or who pose a security threat.
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RCMP and intelligence agencies have so far thwarted two suspected terrorist plots this year involving people who entered Canada on student visas or asylum claims, one of whom was allegedly planning an attack in New York City.
LeBlanc said the arrests of those people are proof that Canada is taking the issue seriously and that “we must remain vigilant” on both sides of the border to counter future threats.
In an interview last week with his local television news station 7News In Watertown, New York, a community near the Ontario border, newly appointed U.S. “border czar” Tom Homan said there is “extreme national security vulnerability” along the Canada-U.S. border. States that will need to be addressed.
Earlier this year, U.S. Senator Marco Rubio, whom Trump has tapped to be his secretary of state, expressed his concern along with other senators about possible attempts by “Gaza residents with possible terrorist links to enter the United States through Canada” after Ottawa eased temporary visa restrictions for Canadian family members fleeing Israel, Gaza and the West Bank.
LeBlanc told Stephenson that he has seen firsthand the technology deployed by CBSA and the RCMP, which patrols the parts of the border between official crossings, and the success they have had in identifying and apprehending people.
He said the government is willing to provide the RCMP and CBSA with whatever resources they deem necessary to address additional concerns.
The CBSA says 15,179 people were removed from Canada last year, and LeBlanc said Canada is on track to deport even more this year. So far, 12,401 people have been expelled.
However, CBSA figures presented in Parliament earlier this year suggest that the majority of people who received deportation letters in the last eight years remain in Canada, which the Conservative Party says suggests a lack of law enforcement.
LeBlanc also pointed to what he said was a 600 per cent increase in investigations into fraudulent visa applications at Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, as well as nearly $1 billion in investments in CBSA detention and removal operations, such as proof of the government’s readiness.
Although encounters of migrants seeking to enter the US through the Canadian land border saw a 306 percent year-over-year increase in June, the number has since decreased by 50 percent to 1,792 in September, according to the US Customs and Border Protection statistics.
The number of encounters with United States Border Patrol (USBP) agents on the northern border of the United States pales in comparison to the southern border with Mexico, which recorded nearly 54,000 encounters in September alone, a 78 percent decrease since December past.
In the 7News interview, Homan said the focus on the southern border has left the Canadian border with “far fewer officers,” something he vowed to address once he is in the White House.
The Immigration and Customs Enforcement Union told Global News in an emailed statement that staffing shortages at CBSA have been “a long-standing issue” and estimates the agency would need between 2,000 and 3,000 additional officers just to meet its needs. current operations.
Human smuggling activity has also been increasing on the northern border. Last month, USBP Chief Patrol Agent Robert Garcia, who oversees the section of the border known as the Swanton Sector, which includes eastern Ontario, Quebec, New York, Vermont and New Hampshire, said agents have apprehended more than 19,222 subjects from 97 different countries since last October. He said that’s more than his last 17 fiscal years combined.
“There is no doubt that global migration has led many countries, including ours, to face challenges that we would not have seen a decade ago,” LeBlanc said when asked about those numbers, highlighting the decline in border encounters in the last months.
“Twenty-five years ago, I don’t think Canadians or Americans understood the extent to which the free, safe and secure movement of people and goods across that border is essential to the economic prosperity and security of both countries. Therefore, it is a totally shared priority.”
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