Revealed: US immigration agency collects more data on migrants than previously known – The Guardian US

2023/09/28 Leave a comment

Of interest and apparent over reach:

A US immigration enforcement program that tracks nearly 200,000 migrants is collecting far more data on the people it surveils than officials previously shared, and storing that data for far longer than was previously known, the Guardian can reveal.

Newly released documents show that the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency (Ice) stores some personal information the program collects on migrants through smartphone apps, ankle monitors and smartwatches for up to 75 years.

A facial recognition app that’s part of the program collects location information whenever someone logs into the app or makes a video call, the documents show, contrary to Ice statements that the app only logs location data when a migrant completes a mandated check-in through the app.

The documents were obtained by immigrants rights groups Just Futures Law, Mijente Support Committee, and Community Justice Exchange through a freedom of information request and a lawsuit.

They reveal that data collection by Ice is more extensive than was previously known to the public and even lawmakers, and raise fresh questions over the lack of transparency from the immigration agency and the company that runs the program, BI Inc.

“We learned there’s really no such thing as data privacy in the context of government mass surveillance,” said Hannah Lucal, a data and tech fellow at Just Futures Law. “The documents convey the alarming scope and scale of Ice’s growing system of data extraction and electronic surveillance monitoring.”

Ice and BI Inc did not respond to a request for comment before publication.

Ice’s ‘unlimited rights to use’ the data

The program in question, the Intensive Supervision Appearance Program (Isap), is run on behalf of Ice by BI, which is a subsidiary of the large private prison corporation the Geo Group.

Billed as a humane alternative to keeping people in detention while their case moves through the immigration system, the program keeps track of migrants through ankle monitors, smartwatch trackers, phone check-ins or in-person visits.

But lawmakers and advocates have long demanded more transparency around how BI and Ice run the program, what data they collect through that surveillance system, how long they store that information and how they use it.

The documents show that Ice hasn’t been fully forthcoming in earlier questions about the information it tracks. In 2018, Ice told the Congressional Research Service that it monitored the location of program participants wearing an ankle monitor, but that it did not “actively monitor” the location of those being tracked through the program’s facial-recognition app, SmartLink. The agency said it only collected GPS data on those people during check-ins, when they are required to submit pictures of themselves from several angles to verify their identity and location.

However, an agreement migrants are required to sign when they are assigned SmartLink surveillance, made public as part of the document release, shows that location information is tracked much more frequently, including when users log into the app, start a video call through the app and enroll in it. Ice requires migrants to use the app far more frequently than for weekly check-ins. Olivia Scott, a former BI caseworker, said caseworkers were often asked by Ice to nudge migrants to log into the app, track the location and share that information with an Ice agent.

“They didn’t care what we said to the people [to get them to open the app],” Scott said. “They just needed a location.”

The documents also confirm that Ice ultimately owns the information BI collects on migrants through the program – information that, taken together, can paint a very detailed picture of someone’s life. The data collected through both the app and devices like ankle monitors include real time location history including common routes a person took, personal information such as addresses and employers, education information, financial information, religious affiliation, race and gender. The company also collects and stores a wide swath of biometric information, including images of people’s faces; voice recordings; weight and height; scars and tattoos; and medical information such as disabilities or pregnancies.

Ice is given “unlimited rights to use, dispose of, or disclose” the data that BI shares with it, the documents show – language that, according to privacy advocates, indicates that the agency can share this information with other agencies, including local law enforcement.

The management of that data is also regulated by Ice policies. According to a privacy assessment by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which encompasses Ice, all data collected through the program is stored in a DHS database that requires records be destroyed 75 years after they are first entered. BI keeps the data for seven years after a person is released from the program.

The information BI and Ice collect and store and what the two entities do with it can have far-reaching consequences for migrants, according to the records. For example, the documents show the data BI collects has helped Ice in arresting and detaining migrants. In one of the documents, BI says it “relayed participant GPS points” to Ice’s enforcement arm, which resulted in the “swift and discrete” arrest of more than 40 migrants.

The documents also show Ice’s enforcement arm (ERO) uses an opaque algorithmic scoring system to determine how much of a flight risk a person in the program is. The documents reveal the score – dubbed a “hurricane score” – is based on “risks factors”, though it doesn’t explain what those risk factors are, and BI employees’ weekly assessment of participants’ compliance with the program. If a person is determined by the algorithm to be more likely to abscond, it could lead Ice and BI to impose stricter levels of surveillance.

Maru Mora-Villalpando, a community organizer at immigrant advocacy group La Resistencia, who has worked directly with people in the program, said the revelations about the “amount of access” BI has to people’s personal information “and the unlimited control [BI and Ice] have over all the data” is “appalling”.

“We are a business to them,” she said.

“[The revelations] only make our case stronger for the end to the false idea that digital detention and monitoring of immigrants is an alternative to detention”, Mora-Villalpando said.

Source: Revealed: US immigration agency collects more data on migrants than previously known – The Guardian US

Filed under Immigration Tagged with , , , , , ,

Amid record immigration, some experts fear newcomers are ‘falling out of love with Canada’

2023/09/28 Leave a comment

Bit rambling and largely ignores the impact of the larger number of temporary residents coming to Canada as today’s StatsCan report shows over 2 million non-permanent residents.

Some interesting insights by the Institute for Canadian Citizenship, Business Council of Canada, Anil Verma, Richard Kurland, and the Ontario Chamber of Commerce:

A historic 431,645 new permanent residents were added to Canada’s population in 2022, but decreasing affordability and a sluggish economy have many immigrants reconsidering a future in Canada.

Immigration advocates and business leaders say it will have troubling consequences for the country. 

Just over a year ago, a survey conducted by Leger on behalf of the Institute for Canadian Citizenship suggested that three out of 10immigrants in Canada aged 35 and under are considering leaving the country within the next two years. The reasons cited were the astronomical cost of living and unrecognized credentials. 

“We think that because we’re not an officially xenophobic country, and because we are more open to newcomers than most other developed countries in the world, that this is therefore just paradise and everyone will come and stay,” says ICC CEO Daniel Bernhard. 

The ICC is a national charity that assists newcomers with the immigration process and integrating into Canadian society. Bernhard says the ICC’s research team could find no official studies about Canada’s immigrant retention rate and are now in the process of conducting one themselves. 

“We do know…that the number of permanent residents who are becoming citizens has nosedived, so these are indications that newcomers are falling out of love with Canada,” says Bernhard. 

In February, the ICC reported that the 2021 census found just 45.7 percent of permanent residents had gone on to become citizens in that previous 10-year period, a sharp decline from 75 percent in 2001.

Canada fell from 9th place in 2016 to 15th in the Global Talent Competitiveness Index and scored poorly on immigration retention. 

“Two-thirds of our members directly recruit newcomers through the immigration system and then the rest of them hire newcomers once they’re already relocated in Canada,” says Trevor Neiman, the director of policy and legal counsel at the Business Council of Canada. 

Neiman, and others in the business community, say this poses a major problem for the country’s economy. 

“Having a sufficient supply of labour underpins our entire economic model,” says Daniel Safayeni, the vice president of policy at the Ontario Chamber of Commerce. “So for businesses, to be able to find and retain the talent that they need is critical, and immigration is part of that equation.”

However, others are skeptical of the alarm bells being rung over these potential departures. 

“We have processed more cases than ever, at a fraction of the cost,” says Richard Kurland, a lawyer and policy analyst at Kurland-Tobe, a law firm specializing in immigration. “We have undergone an upgrade. It is a work in process, not perfect by any means, but what can you say when you get more people we need in huge numbers at the lowest per case cost ever?” 

Canada’s brand is threatened

While noting Canada has a very strong immigration brand that has helped it retain the best and brightest over the years, Neiman says that brand is under threat due to Canada falling behind on immigration backlogs, affordable housing, and credentialing. 

Neiman points out that in the Global Talent Competitiveness Index, Canada fell from 9th place in 2016 to 15th, and scored poorly on immigration retention. 

Bernhard says Canada needs a sufficient working-age population to support the social services promised by the government but that many of the countries that Canada traditionally relies upon for a supply of immigrants are outperforming it in key areas. 

“We do need a fresh infusion of working-age people…there are a lot of other countries that have figured out how to deliver health care at a high quality for less money, they figured out how to build transit at a decent quality for less money, they figured out how to build housing at a decent quality for less money,” says Bernhard. 

Neiman says countries like India and China have worked to curb skilled emigration, resulting in many of their citizens choosing to return home after a period of working or being educated in Canada. 

In 2022, the Times of India reported that many Indian nationals working abroad were returning home due to pandemic-born uncertainties and competitive job offers. Furthermore, Neiman says countries like Australia, who have historically been less open to immigration, have changed their policies to make them more attractive. 

Last August, the Australian government raised its permanent annual immigration quota to 195,000, up from 160,000 in the previous year. Worth noting is that the GCTI ranked Australia in 9th place in 2022, Canada’s former position. 

“Businesses and governments need to be laser-focused on ensuring that Canada is the top choice for newcomers who have so many options, and who are so sophisticated, and can choose wherever in the world they want to be,” says Neiman.

Credentials aren’t recognized 

Bernhard notes that highly regulated professions such as engineering, nursing, law, and medicine have strong entry barriers in Canada. 

“Immigrants to Canada in the economic class tend to be about twice as likely as the average Canadian to hold a university degree,” says Bernhard. “They’re far better educated and tend to actually be considerably younger, so they have more working years ahead of them.” 

Credentials in fields like dentistry and medicine from countries like India and Iran, both sources of large numbers of immigrants, are often not recognized by those industries’ professional colleges in Canada. 

“A lot of people don’t find appropriate employment right away,” says Bernhard. “And eventually that gap shrinks, but the impact on earnings and things like that lasts forever.” 

In the past, these barriers have resulted in legal battles to ensure foreign accreditation is properly recognized, such as in B.C. to ensure that Indian-trained veterinarians could be allowed to practice without undue scrutiny. 

Calls to soften the barriers for people trained abroad in the medical profession have grown in recent years as Canada’s health-care system is increasingly strained by a lack of new doctors and nurses. Bernhard says other barriers exist for other professions as well. 

“What a lot of people do not realize is that there are other softer barriers for people like marketing professionals, HR people, all these non-regulated jobs, where peoples’ experiences are also not being fairly recognized in the workplace,” says Bernhard. “It’s a big problem for Canada, which reports shortages in these areas despite the presence of many people who are qualified and working below their capability.”

Not a new issue

Anil Verma, the professor emeritus of industrial relations and HR management at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management, does not believe the trend of immigrants cooling to Canada is new at all. 

“Just to give you my personal perspective on this, I emigrated to Canada in 1974, and so now over the last 50 years, I’ve seen the ebb and flow of immigrants coming and going,” says Verma. “It accelerates in the years that the Canadian economy is not doing well. It is much less of a problem during growth years, so there is an economic cycle to this.” 

Safayeni says Ontario’s economy is expected to slow down eventually as a result of higher interest rates, so it’s understandable that businesses are feeling more pessimistic.

“But when you look at the top two concerns underpinning that concern, it’s labour shortages and inflation,” says Safayeni.

Verma believes modern immigration to Canada must be addressed as a long-term issue, and that the country is being affected by a globalizing economy. 

“I think that what has happened, and that is relatively newer, is that there is a global market now in high-tech talent,” says Verma. “If you are a cutting-edge medical researcher, or similarly positioned in your profession or occupation, there are people all over the world hunting for you, or enticing you to move.” 

“Our members are disproportionately using immigration programs to attract highly skilled and highly specialized talent,” says Neiman. “So things like cyber security professionals, engineers, mathematicians.” 

Neiman says the labour shortage situation has changed drastically in the past few years regarding the need to fill gaps in the labour market. 

Record numbers of Canadian workers retired during the pandemic, and from August 2021 to August 2022, yearly retirements rose by over 30 percent. 

Neiman says that while they use the immigration system to address labour shortages, there is a wider interest in highly skilled immigrants with specialized areas of expertise.

“The particular skill set that’s in demand, that kind of a higher skill type of more specialized talent, has also grown as well,” says Neiman. “So I think there’s big structural forces here that are at play.”

Affordability matters

Internal migration may provide an example of how an issue like unaffordability is driving young, educated workers out of Toronto, Canada’s economic centre for the last 50 years, to more affordable cities like Calgary. One of the main reasons cited for Toronto’s unaffordability is the lack of housing supply in the Greater Toronto Area. 

Affordability has traditionally not been an area covered by the Chamber, but Safayeni says it has struck a task force to study the issue. In April, Alberta residents paid $873 less in monthly rent for an apartment, and $387,780 less when buying a house in March. 

Verma says affordability remains a huge problem, and that young people are drawn to urban centres like Vancouver and Toronto, but it becomes a problem when their salaries cannot cover the costs of living. 

Bernhard says the affordability crisis affects everybody, immigrant or non-immigrant. 

“Immigrants are a special class of people, but they also live in society with everybody else, and they’re subjected to the same pressures as everybody else,” says Bernhard. 

Verma, however, says people whose families have settled in Canada would be reluctant to uproot themselves and move away. He says the survey showing three out of 10 permanent residents are considering leaving Canada displays only their opinion, not what will actually happen. 

“I don’t see that this is a big problem. The main reason why people come to Canada is because of better economic opportunities,” says Verma. “Canada is a great place to live…wages are relatively high as compared to the world. They are not as high as in the U.S. but that has been true for the last 50 years.” 

Richard Kurland, the lawyer at Kurland-Tobe, however, says anybody who leaves Canada will be replaced by others.

“You have a bus where 25 percent of the passengers want out, and four times that number of people who want in,” says Kurland. “Anyone who wants to leave, God bless. There are a ton of replacements, with higher human capital scores, due to the nature of Canada’s new selection system.” 

Bernhard says Canada can learn from new immigrants to its benefit. 

“It isn’t just about standing still and replacing old people and hoping for the best. It’s about an optimistic vision for the future,” he said.

“Canada has always been built on that vision for hundreds of years, this is how we succeeded and I think that we need to keep that tradition alive.” 

Geoff Russ is a full-time writer for The Hub. He is based in British Columbia. @GeoffRuss3

Source: Amid record immigration, some experts fear newcomers are ‘falling out of love with Canada’

Filed under Immigration Tagged with , , , ,

Foreign students being tricked into thinking they can get permanent residency by studying in Canada, experts warn

2023/09/27 Leave a comment

More on the report by Senators Omidvar, Youssugg and Woo:

Foreign students, some of them confused by false promises from immigration consultants, are being misled into thinking that studying at Canadian postsecondary schools is a guaranteed route to remaining permanently in the country, senators and immigration experts are warning.

A report by Senators Ratna Omidvar, Hassan Yussuff and Yuen Pau Woo about the federal international student program warns that there are not enough permanent residence spots to cater to the rising number of these students coming to Canada, and calls on Ottawa to make clear that the process of staying permanently is highly competitive.

Although attending a Canadian college or university can help a foreign student gain permanent residence here, success is not assured. Under a program known as Express Entry, Canada’s immigration system assigns scores to would-be permanent residents based on their work experience and other factors, and only the highest ranked are invited to apply.

The senators’ report also calls for federal action to stop education consultants – who are paid by Canadian colleges to recruit students abroad – from overselling the ease of getting Canadian work permits after graduation. In some cases, international students are denied these permits because their colleges are not “designated learning institutions,” meaning the schools aren’t on a government list of approved institutions.

In comments to the House of Commons last week, Immigration Minister Marc Miller said international students are an asset to Canada and its future. But he said there needs to be a crackdown on consultants giving them “false hope.”

The senators’ report says it is often argued that the federal government itself is also “perpetuating an inflated sense of hope” among people who come to study in Canada.

“While the Canadian government is being honest in highlighting the immigration advantages of studying in Canada, it can perhaps do more to be forthright about the highly competitive nature of the permanent residence application process,” the report says.

The federal Immigration Department forecasts that the number of foreign students applying to come to Canada each year will rise to 1.4 million by 2027, according to an internal policy document. This year, around 900,000 are expected to study in Canada.

While Ottawa is increasing its immigration targets in the coming years, with a goal of admitting 500,000 permanent residents a year by 2025, the senators’ report says there will still not be enough spots to cater to the number of international students who wish to stay after graduation. It notes that while the number of permanent residents admitted each year is capped, there is no such cap on the number of temporary residents, including students.

Most international students want to gain permanent residence after they finish their studies, a 2021 survey of students for the Canadian Bureau for International Education found.

The survey found that 73 per cent of respondents planned to apply for postgraduation work permits, which allow former international students to work in Canada temporarily. The survey also found that 59 per cent said they intended to apply for permanent residence.

But not all postsecondary programs make students eligible for postgraduation work permits. The senators’ report says international students need to be made aware of this.

Ms. Omidvar, one of the report’s authors, said in an interview that the federal government should directly communicate with foreign students about the conditions for working and staying in Canada, to counter what she called “misinformation” from education consultants.

“It is the federal government’s responsibility to communicate with the students. When the visa is issued it should be accompanied by a letter,” she said.

Toronto immigration lawyer Michael Battista said many people discover after finishing their studies that they have been rejected for postgraduation work permits because the schools they attended, often private colleges, were not designated learning institutions.

Some return to their home countries, while others have to start their studies again at designated colleges, he said.

Mr. Battista, who is also an adjunct professor at the University of Toronto’s law faculty, said applications for permanent residence are becoming far more competitive. Qualifications that a few years ago would have allowed students to obtain permanent residence now aren’t enough, he said.

“International students are really being sold a false story,” he said, adding that many skilled graduates have waited so long for permanent residence that they have given up.

Ms. Omidvar said in some cases entire families have saved up to send one person to study in Canada. Some families in India have sold their land to pay student fees, she added.

The senators’ report says research by Statistics Canada found that 30 per cent of international students who came to Canada in the 2000s became permanent residents within 10 years of arriving.

Source: Foreign students being tricked into thinking they can get permanent residency by studying in Canada, experts warn

Filed under Immigration Tagged with , , , ,

Y a-t-il un pilote dans l’avion de l’immigration? 

2023/09/27 Leave a comment

Gives a flavour of Quebec francophone views, brought to my attention by one of my regular readers:

Ces semaines-ci se tient à Québec une commission parlementaire sur la planification de l’immigration au Québec pour la période 2024-2027. Cette commission a pour but de choisir entre le maintien du scénario actuel de 50 000 ou une augmentation progressive à 60 000 pour 2026. En 2022, le Québec a accueilli 68 700 immigrants permanents… Comme dirait l’autre, une heure plus tard dans les Maritimes.

Du côté de l’immigration temporaire (travailleurs et étudiants), on constate une progression fulgurante puisqu’on est passé de 145 000 sur le sol québécois en 2021 à 370 000 aujourd’hui. Des chiffres que certains (CIBC, C. D. Howe) considèrent bien en deçà de la réalité, puisqu’ils vont jusqu’à parler du double.

Tout cela s’inscrit évidemment dans le cadre de la délirante politique canadienne appelée l’« Initiative du siècle » qui vise un Canada à 100 millions d’habitants d’ici 2100. Résultat, ça pète de partout. On a même assisté récemment à un accrochage entre Justin Trudeau et un de ses ministres. Le point de friction : la crise du logement qui sévit partout au Canada. Ici, au Québec, l’Université du Québec à Rimouski a dû annuler en juin l’arrivée de 200 étudiants étrangers faute de pouvoir les loger.

Autre point de friction : la langue d’intégration des immigrants. Ce problème est vital dans un Québec où le français est sérieusement mis à mal depuis plusieurs années. Or, les immigrants qui immigrent avant tout au Canada dans une mer anglophone nord-américaine ont tendance à être très ouverts à l’anglais. Les immigrants temporaires, dont le nombre est en pleine explosion, n’ont aucune obligation à ce niveau. Dans un semblant de pays où les fédéralistes instrumentalisent depuis longtemps l’immigration pour combattre l’aspiration des Québécois à l’indépendance, il y a de quoi alimenter une certaine paranoïa.

Conditions de travail

Point de friction additionnel : la pression à la baisse sur les conditions de travail générée par l’emploi croissant des travailleurs étrangers temporaires. À cet égard, une lumière rouge s’est récemment allumée puisqu’un rapport de l’ONU est allé jusqu’à parler de nouvel esclavage en citant nommément le Canada et le Québec. Les cas d’exploitation de travailleurs étrangers révélés par les médias se multiplient. Les étudiants étrangers sont souvent aussi des travailleurs, ne serait-ce qu’à temps partiel, et leur vulnérabilité est bien réelle, même si elle n’est pas aussi flagrante que celle des travailleurs étrangers avec permis fermé. De plus, leur conjoint obtient aussi le droit d’immigrer et… de travailler.

Tout le monde se souvient du discours offensif de François Legault aux élections de 2018. « Nous allons rapatrier tous les pouvoirs en immigration. » On connaît la suite. M. Legault est revenu d’Ottawa « la veste sous l’bras en disant : “OK, d’abord” ». Aujourd’hui, non seulement il a pris son trou, mais il est devenu un artisan zélé de l’« Initiative du siècle » par la force des choses. Les chiffres sont là pour le démontrer. Tout cela sans le dire, dans une parfaite hypocrisie.

La raison de ce revirement est facile à trouver puisque l’explosion du nombre de travailleurs étrangers temporaires fait bien plaisir aux patrons du Québec, qui trouvent là une main-d’oeuvre hypervulnérable et complètement à la merci des plus agressifs d’entre eux. Il ne faut quand même pas oublier que le Conseil des ministres est composé au tiers de gens d’affaires.

Discrets sur l’immigration, les caquistes sont par contre très loquaces concernant une supposée pénurie de main-d’oeuvre. Ils nous la servent à toutes les sauces. Pourtant, à Montréal actuellement, un nouveau Walmart ouvre ses portes. Pour 300 postes, les dirigeants ont reçu plus de 3000 postulations. Il n’y a pas pénurie de main-d’oeuvre, mais plutôt rareté, et il est aisé de comprendre que cela déplaise aux employeurs qui doivent mettre les mains dans leurs poches profondes pour mieux traiter leurs employés.

Source: Y a-t-il un pilote dans l’avion de l’immigration?

Filed under Immigration Tagged with ,

Here’s what really happened when Canada shut down Roxham Road

2023/09/27 Leave a comment

A possible fallacy to arguments made by advocates that the change affected the “most vulnerable people without the money, without the wherewithal, without the ability to get a visa, who are now excluded from Canada’s protection” is that it appears that many of the Roxham Road crossers had arrived in the USA by air, and, who, in many cases, had US entry visas.

So perhaps more of a shift between source countries than greater impact on the more vulnerable and a shared “class privilege”:

New rules brought in this year to stem the tide of irregular migrants at spots such as Quebec’s Roxham Road have changed who is coming to Canada to seek asylum and how they are getting here, a Star analysis reveals.

The shift in patterns, critics contend, means that some of the most vulnerable refugees are being excluded from Canada’s asylum protection.

In March, Washington and Ottawa expanded the Canada-U.S. Safe Third Country Agreement across their entire shared border — not just at the official ports of entry.

In doing so, they closed a loophole that had been used by irregular migrants to sneak from one country into the other to seek asylum, something that had drawn significant political and media scrutiny.

The updated accord meant that any foreign national who attempted to cross into Canada at any point of the 8,891-kilometre shared border without authorization would be denied access to asylum and turned back to the U.S., unless one of the exceptions to the rule applied.

Since new rules took effect in late March, the foot traffic of asylum seekers crossing Quebec’s Roxham Road has dwindled to a trickle or nothing. Yet there hasn’t been a major drop-off in those coming to Canada to seek asylum.

Data obtained by the Star offers an explanation.

Between January and July of this year, the total number of by-air and by-land asylum claimants to Canada was 39,295 — an increase of 29 per cent over the same period last year. (This year’s number also surpassed by a huge margin the 14,820 recorded by the end of July in 2019, the year before the pandemic hit.)

After the new border rules were put into place in March, the number of land claimants dropped significantly — from more than 5,000 a month in the first three months of 2023 to just under 1,500 a month.

However, that decline was offset by the surge in the number of people seeking protection upon arrival by air.

Although there were 9,490 fewer people making claims at the land ports of entry between March and July, the number of migrants seeking asylum at airports grew by 8,425 over the same time in 2022. It’s gone from 1,500 a month at the start of the year to 3,350 a month since April.

Critics say the new border measures simply make the presence of refugees less visible and their arrival less dramatic.

“In order to erase the images of people crossing with luggage in hand at Roxham Road and quiet the noise of a political backlash, the government has created a new problem, but it’s a less visible problem,” said refugee lawyer Maureen Silcoff. She added that the would-be asylum seekers who are in the most jeopardy might be the hardest hit by the policy change.

“My concern is the government has now put in place a system with dire consequences, because the more vulnerable people are now at high risk of harm in their country of origin because the land border is closed and the airports are not available to them … It’s the most vulnerable people without the money, without the wherewithal, without the ability to get a visa, who are now excluded from Canada’s protection.”

Unlike some migrants arriving by land, claimants who come by air must have some forms of travel documents such as a passport and visa or electronic travel authorization (eTA) to board a flight to get here. The new border rules have seemingly had an impact on what nation’s would-be asylum seekers reach Canada.

Turkey remains the main source of land-border claimants, with 3,545 claims lodged between January and July, followed by Colombians (3,005), Haitians (2,205), Venezuelans (2,010) and Afghans (1,685) among the top five.

The source countries are drastically different for those coming by air. Mexicans top the list with 7,885 claims in the first seven months of this year, followed by Indians (1,985), Kenyans (975), Senegalese (745) and Ethiopians (475).

Experts can’t explain the surge of by-air claims in Canada since April because there have not been any dramatic world events that prompted the spike in claims from those countries, though there are generally increased arrivals of claimants by air in summer months.

“People who are fleeing as refugees come from a whole range of backgrounds. You’re going to have to do country-specific research in order to identify the migration corridors they use,” said Prof. Sharry Aiken, who teaches immigration law at Queen’s University.

“Data sets don’t coalesce because people were coming as irregular migrants and that was the only way they could come, and people who are still coming on planes are able to get documents.”

What’s clear to Aiken is that these top refugee source countries, whether their asylum seekers come by air or land, all have a history of human rights violations. Canada does not require visas from Mexican travellers, she said, which explains the high volume of air claims from Mexico. (The U.S. requires Mexicans coming by air or land to have a visa or another document called a Border Control Card.)

“Every attempt by governments to seal borders is not going to be effective in reducing the numbers of people arriving. They will temporarily reduce some asylum seekers from taking particular routes, but others will be taking different routes,” Aiken said.

“People are still getting here, but not the same people who would have otherwise been able to come here, at least in some cases. My guess is that we’re getting asylum seekers with a degree of class privilege who are arriving by plane.”

Source: Here’s what really happened when Canada shut down Roxham Road

Filed under Immigration Tagged with , ,

‘I’m frozen out’: Canadians question immigration department’s approach to parent, grandparent sponsorship

2023/09/26 Leave a comment

No easy way to manage the demand, which of course grows with immigration levels:

The federal government is inviting thousands of Canadians to apply to sponsor their parents and grandparents starting Oct. 10 — but many say its recent approach is leaving qualified Canadians behind, and could be making the immigration department vulnerable to ineligible applications.

Under the parents and grandparents program (PGP), the department only invites people to apply if they’ve formally submitted an interest in entering their names into the lottery system.

The problem for many, is the immigration department has not accepted new interest-to-sponsor (ITS) forms since 2020. Usually, there’s an opportunity to do that each year.

“It is good for those who were lucky enough to get their names into the hats, basically in 2020,” said Jatin Shory, a refugee and immigration lawyer in Calgary.

“But our biggest issue definitely, definitely, definitely comes for those who would qualify now if a brand new intake cycle opened up, but who are now just being left behind.”

Harpreet Singh is one of those people. The 29-year-old living in Langley, B.C., didn’t express interest in 2020 because his income was a little short.

He became financially eligible less than three months after the department stopped accepting ITS forms. That month, the federal government said there would be another opportunity to sign up in 2021, so he wasn’t too worried.

But years later, he’s still waiting for a fair chance to bring his mom from the United Kingdom to Canada.

“I listened to what the government was saying and now it’s like, oh, OK, the pool is closed and I’m frozen out and I don’t really know what’s going on,” said Singh.

Shory says out of desperation, some of his clients are filing applications for their families under humanitarian and compassionate considerations, which he says is risky, stressful and much more expensive.

Risk of ineligible applications

Between Oct. 10-23, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) says it will invite 24,000 eligible Canadians to apply to reunite with their families, with the goal of receiving up to 15,000 complete applications.

People across the country have been raising concerns about the PGP for years. At least two petitions have been filed in the House of Commons to address the shortcomings of the immigration system.

Singh launched one of those petitions last year.

His biggest concern, raised in his petition to former immigration minister Sean Fraser, is that this approach could leave the immigration department vulnerable to ineligible applications.

“There’s people in the pool who weren’t actually eligible in 2020, but they submitted anyway, and now they continue to get chances to sponsor their parents because they might be eligible now,” said Singh.

That’s because IRCC only assesses people’s income from the three years previous to their application being considered, not when they entered the pool.

“What are they doing to counteract that?”

Immigration lawyer Shory says that’s a real risk, and it could explain why IRCC is only accepting up to 15,000 complete applications.

“If you can issue 24,000 invitations, why are you not accepting up to 24,000 [applications]? I believe the idea is not all 24,000 will qualify,” said Shory.

“I wonder if the government is going to go back and say, ‘Well listen, you didn’t qualify in 2020, so therefore we’re not going to qualify you for this, even though you may qualify now.'”

IRCC received 200,000 entries in 2020

Department spokesperson Isabelle Dubois says IRCC is catching up on a list of 200,000 potential sponsors who expressed interest in 2020. Approximately 132,000 people remain in the pool.

“Given the volume of interest-to-sponsor forms received in 2020 that remain, IRCC will continue to use this pool of submissions for the 2023 intake,” said Dubois in an emailed statement.

She also confirmed that IRCC will only be assessing the income of potential sponsors for the 2020-2022 tax years.

“No potential sponsor randomly selected from the 2020 pool, who does not meet the necessary eligibility requirements, is eligible for parent and grandparent sponsorship,” she said.

“IRCC takes program integrity very seriously and is committed to ensuring our programs are fair and equally accessible.”

Five-year wait to process application

Vikramjit Brar says he wants IRCC to catch up on its backlog before accepting more applications.

According to the most recent data, 802,600 immigrant applications are backlogged — including 54 per cent of permanent residency applications, though Dubois says IRCC has been making good progress with processing applications.

Still, Brar has been waiting five years for IRCC to process his application to sponsor his parents.

Vikramjit Brar (middle) has lived in Canada for over 15 years and sponsored his parents to become permanent residents of Canada five years ago. He says he’s desperate for answers. (Submitted by Vikramjit Brar)

The Airdrie, Alta., resident says the worst part of the delay is the emotional distress. It’s weighing on his relationship with his parents, and affecting the mental health of them all, he says.

“This is frustrating. This is disappointing. Sometimes I don’t pick up their call because I can’t give them false hope,” said Brar.

“Each year, [the government is] taking hundreds and thousands of applications. They’re getting a lot of money from people… But there’s no service, there’s no outcome.”

Brar’s next and final step is to hire a lawyer to file a writ of mandamus — an order for government officials to fulfil their duties and process applications — with a quoted legal cost of up to $10,000.

Source: ‘I’m frozen out’: Canadians question immigration department’s approach to parent, grandparent sponsorship – CBC.ca

Filed under Immigration Tagged with

He spoke no English, had no lawyer. An Afghan man’s case offers a glimpse into US immigration court – Miami Herald

2023/09/26 Leave a comment

Always a mistake to represent oneself:

The Afghan man speaks only Farsi, but he wasn’t worried about representing himself in U.S. immigration court. He believed the details of his asylum claim spoke for themselves.

Mohammad was a university professor, teaching human rights courses in Afghanistan before he fled for the United States. Mohammad is also Hazara, an ethnic minority long persecuted in his country, and he said he was receiving death threats under the Taliban, who reimposed their harsh interpretation of Sunni Islam after taking power in 2021.

He crossed the Texas border in April 2022, surrendered to Border Patrol agents and was detained. A year later, a hearing was held via video conference. His words were translated by a court interpreter in another location, and he said he struggled to express himself — including fear for his life since he was injured in a 2016 suicide bombing.

At the conclusion of the nearly three-hour hearing, the judge denied him asylum. Mohammad said he was later shocked to learn that he had waived his right to appeal the decision.

“I feel alone and that the law wasn’t applied,” said Mohammad, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition that only his first name be used, over fears for the safety of his wife and children, who are still in Afghanistan.

Mohammad’s case offers a rare look inside an opaque and overwhelmed immigration court system where hearings are often closed, transcripts are not available to the public and judges are under pressure to move quickly with ample discretion. Amid a major influx of migrants at the border with Mexico, the courts — with a backlog of 2 million cases -– may be the most overwhelmed and least understood link in the system.

AP reviewed a hearing transcript provided by Mona Iman, an attorney with Human Rights First now representing Mohammad. Iman also translated Mohammad’s comments to AP in a phone interview from Prairieland Detention Center in Alvarado, Texas.

The case reflects an asylum seeker who was ill-equipped to represent himself and clearly didn’t understand what was happening, according to experts who reviewed the transcript. But at least one former judge disagreed and said the ruling was fair.

Now Mohammad’s attorney has won him a new hearing, before a different judge — a rare second chance for asylum cases. Also giving Iman hope is a decision this week by the Biden administration to give temporary legal status to Afghan migrants living in the country for more than a year. Iman believes he qualifies and said he will apply.

But Mohammed has been in detention for about 18 months, and he fears he could remain in custody and still be considered for deportation.

AP sought details and comment from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The agency didn’t address questions on Mohammad’s case but said noncitizens can pursue all due process and appeals and, once that’s exhausted, judges’ orders must be carried out.

For his April 27 hearing, Mohammad submitted photos of his injuries from the 2016 suicide bombing that killed hundreds at a peaceful demonstration of mostly Hazaras. He also gave the court threatening letters from the Taliban and medical documents from treatment for head wounds in 2021. He said militants beat him with sticks as he left the university and shot at him but missed.

In court, the government argued that Mohammad encouraged migration to the U.S. on social media, changed dates and details related to his history, and had relatives in Europe, South America and other places where he could have settled.

In ruling, Judge Allan John-Baptiste said the threats didn’t indicate Mohammad would still be at risk, and that his wife and children hadn’t been harmed since he left.

Mohammad tried to keep arguing his case, but the judge told him the evidentiary period was closed. He asked Mohammad whether he planned to appeal or would waive his right to do so.

Mohammad kept describing his claim, but John-Baptiste reminded him he’d already ruled. Mohammad said if the judge was going to ignore the humanitarian situation in Afghanistan, he wouldn’t ask for an appeal. John-Baptiste indicated he had considered it.

“You were not hit by the gunshot or the suicide bomber,” John-Baptiste said. “The harm that you received does not rise to the level of persecution.”

Mohammad continued, explaining how his family lives in hiding, his wife concealing her identity with a burqa.

“OK, are you going to appeal my decision or not?” John-Baptiste ultimately asked.

“No, I don’t,” Mohammad said.

“And we don’t want you to make the decision now that you can’t come back later and say you want to appeal. This is final, OK, sir?” John-Baptiste said.

“Yes. OK, I accept that,” Mohammad said.

He later asked whether he could try to come back legally. The judge started to explain voluntary departure, which would allow him to return in less than a decade, but corrected himself and said Mohammad didn’t qualify.

“I’m sorry about that, but, you know, I’m just going to have to order you removed,” John-Baptiste said. “I wish you the best of luck.”

Mohammad later told AP he couldn’t comprehend what was happening in court. He’d heard from others in detention that he had a month to appeal.

“I didn’t understand in that moment that the right would be taken from me if I said no,” he said.

Former immigration judge Jeffrey Chase, who reviewed the transcript, said he was surprised John-Baptiste waived Mohammad’s right to appeal and that the Board of Immigration Appeals upheld that decision. Case law supports granting protection for people who belong to a group long persecuted in their homelands even if an individual cannot prove specific threats, said Chase, an adviser to the appeals board.

But Andrew Arthur, another former immigration judge, said John-Baptiste ruled properly.

“The respondent knew what he was filing, understood all of the questions that were asked of him at the hearing, understood the decision, and freely waived his right to appeal,” Arthur, a fellow at the Center for Immigration Studies, which advocates for immigration restrictions, said via email.

Chase said the hearing appeared rushed, and he believes the case backlog played a role.

“Immigration judges hear death-penalty cases in traffic-court conditions,” said Chase, quoting a colleague. “This is a perfect example.”

Overall, the 600 immigration judges nationwide denied 63% of asylum cases last year, according to Syracuse University’s Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse.Individual rates vary wildly, from a Houston judge who denied all 105 asylum requests to a San Francisco one denying only 1% of 108 cases. John-Baptiste, a career prosecutor appointed during the Trump administration’s final months, denied 72% of his 114 cases.

Before Mohammad decided to flee, his wife applied for a special immigrant visa, which grants permanent residency to Afghans who worked for the U.S. government or military, along with their families. But that and other legal pathways can take years.

While they waited, Mohammad said, the Taliban came looking for him but instead detained and beat his nephew. Mohammad described making the devastating decision to leave his family, who had no passports.

He opted for a treacherous route through multiple countries to cross the U.S.-Mexico border, which has seen the number of Afghans jump from 300 to 5,000 in a year. Mohammad said he crossed into Pakistan, flew to Brazil and headed north. He slept on buses and trekked through Panama’s notorious Darien Gap jungle, where he said he saw bodies of migrants who didn’t make it. Mohammad planned to live with a niece in North Carolina. Now he fears if he’s sent home and his wife gets her visa, they’ll be separated again.

Deportations to Afghanistan are extremely rare, with a handful each year. Attorney Iman said they’re grateful Mohammad’s case has been reopened, with a hearing scheduled for Oct. 4.

She is fighting for his immediate release. “I have no doubt that his case would have turned out differently had he been represented,” Iman said. “This is exactly the type of vulnerable individual that the U.S. government has promised, has committed to protect, since it withdrew from the country.”

Source: He spoke no English, had no lawyer. An Afghan man’s case offers a glimpse into US immigration court – Miami Herald

Filed under Immigration Tagged with , ,

Perez: Canada’s welcoming attitude toward immigrants is at risk of fraying

2023/09/25 Leave a comment

Part of the “denialist” narratives that state or imply that any questioning of immigration levels, permanent or temporary, is xenophobic or worse, and that the only solution is to build more housing, improve healthcare and infrastructure. Supply side narrative that willingly disregards or discounts the demand side of an increase in population, driven by immigration. 

I haven’t seen any credible commentary comparing the very different dynamics in France with the Canadian reality.

But fundamentally, current and planned high levels are far more risky to public consensus on immigration, by immigrants and non-immigrants alike, than fretting about discussing these issues. The vast majority of commentary has been thoughtful, respective and by no means xenophobic.

If “Our decision makers must confront the stark domestic policy challenges we face today to ensure we remain the envy of the world when it comes to welcoming immigration policies,” discussing more reasonable levels of permanent and temporary migration is essential to maintaining public confidence and support:

In June, violent riots overtook more than a dozen French cities after a police officer shot and killed Nahel Merzouk, a French teen of Algerian and Moroccan descent who had driven through a red light while escaping police.

The reaction in Canada was as predictable as it was self-assured. Many commentators said the destructive events unfolding in France could never take place in a country like Canada.

But could they?

What transpired in France is a reflection of that country’s unwillingness to integrate its substantial North African population into broader French society more than 60 years after its colonial era came to a grinding halt in the North African Maghreb.

Unlike France, Canada is arguably the most welcoming country to new citizens globally. In 1971, prime minister Pierre Trudeau announced a first-of-its kind official government policy – multiculturalism – designed to recognize the contribution of cultural diversity and multicultural citizenship to Canada’s greater social fabric.

Multiculturalism has become a cornerstone of Canadian identity and has been accompanied by an equally popular policy: that of high immigration.

I’m the beneficiary of these dual policies. My father left France for Canada 50 years ago, arriving in Quebec’s Eastern Townships to start a new life just two years after Pierre Trudeau made official multiculturalism a reality.

But an Abacus Data poll released in July reveals a marked shift in public opinion on Canadian immigration policy. The poll found 61 per cent of Canadians believe the federal government’s target to welcome 500,000 planned permanent residents in 2025 is “too high,” including 37 per cent who feel it’s “way too high.”

While Conservative Party supporters are most likely to feel the immigration target of 500,000 is too high (with 52 per cent feeling it’s way too high), half of Liberal Party and NDP supporters feel the target is too high as well.

These numbers demonstrate a growing gap between how Canada’s economic and political leaders view immigration when compared with the broader public. If we don’t address the sentiments underlying this poll, what happened in France in June might not be so unimaginable in our own backyard.

Until now, immigration policy has been the third rail of Canadian politics. No mainstream politician has dared touch the issue for fear of public backlash. Maxime Bernier’s upstart People’s Party of Canada briefly flirted with anti-immigration rhetoric during the 2019 federal election only to receive a pitiful 1.6-per-cent support on election day.

The leaders of Canada’s three largest parties continue to speak out strongly in favour of generous immigration levels – and I believe they mean it.

At the political level, we continue to benefit from a consensus on immigration policy in this country – a consensus that cuts across parties, levels of government and regions. For example, Pierre Poilievre won the Conservative Party’s leadership one year ago this month, in part by appealing to ethnocultural communities and new Canadians. Canadian conservatism has never been synonymous with nativism, unlike in many other Western countries.

Meanwhile, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh is the first non-white, turban-wearing national political leader in Canada. Since assuming the party’s leadership in 2017, Mr. Singh has used his platform to speak candidly about his experience as a racialized Canadian and major party leader.

To its credit, the Trudeau government continues to double down on economic immigration as a means to addressing Canada’s declining birth rate and widening labour shortage. In June, the government announced a “digital nomad strategy” that will empower workers with a foreign employer to stay and work in Canada for up to six months. Another recently announced program will introduce an immigration stream specifically targeted at technology workers, allowing them to enter the country whether they have a job or not.

Despite our cross-party consensus on economic immigration, we’re not immune to a scenario that could see some political leaders peddle anti-immigration rhetoric in exchange for votes. In fact, this is the norm in most of the Western world where nativist parties enjoy sizable support.

If we are to remain the most welcoming country in the world, our political leaders must do a much better job securing the social license needed to maintain high immigration levels, including addressing the housing affordability and health care crises.

The Abacus poll found that 63 per cent of Canadians feel high immigration levels are having a harmful impact on housing, while 49 per cent feel our immigration policies are negatively affecting the country’s stretched health care system.

Research shows that Canada must build 5.3 million homes over the next decade if we’re to credibly address the housing affordability crisis. But recent figures show Canada is on track to build less than half that number. Our most populous province, Ontario, built just 72,000 new units of housing last year while welcoming more than 184,000 permanent residents.

Part of securing social license for generous immigration policies requires our leaders to address the deplorable conditions experienced by refugees and asylum seekers in many parts of the country. Earlier this summer, news reports revealed that large numbers of asylum seekers were left to sleep on the streets of Toronto because of an overburdened shelter system.

Meanwhile, Canada’s public health care system is still reeling from the ravages of COVID-19 and is suffering from a shortage of doctors, nurses and hospital beds. Canadians of all backgrounds increasingly face lengthy wait times for elective surgeries, procedures, appointments, tests and imaging. Finding a family physician has become a herculean task; emergency rooms are at a breaking point.

The blunt reality is that our current health care system isn’t equipped to adequately serve the existing population, let alone vulnerable newcomers.

High immigration levels and official multiculturalism are inextricably linked to Canada’s immense economic and social success over the past 50 years. They’re the reason my father chose Canada in 1973. They’re also the reason he was successful building an extremely rewarding life here.

But the decidedly pro-immigration sentiments that marked my father’s formative years in this country are now at risk of disappearing. This ought to be a siren call for our political leaders at every level of government. Now isn’t the time for Canada to rest on its laurels from a bygone era. Our decision makers must confront the stark domestic policy challenges we face today to ensure we remain the envy of the world when it comes to welcoming immigration policies.

Andrew Perez is a Toronto-based freelance writer, media commentator and political activist.

Source: Opinion: Canada’s welcoming attitude toward immigrants is at risk of fraying

Filed under Immigration Tagged with

Woolley: Stop seeing immigration as a get-rich-quick scheme for Canada’s economy 

2023/09/23 Leave a comment

Indeed. Acknowledge the trade offs and both negative and positive impact:

Immigration is neither as good for Canada as recent federal government pronouncements would suggest nor as bad as some critics might claim. The best economic evidence suggests that, in the long run, immigration has limited impact on the average Canadian’s wages or job prospects. Immigration boosts the economy, but it increases our population, too, leaving the average Canadian’s living standards more or less unchanged.

Yet these long-run averages mask the fact that specific policies create winners and losers. A government that ignores the fact that immigration can have costs risks making two mistakes. First, it might uncritically accept the arguments made by those who stand to benefit from immigration. Second, if it does not take the downside risks of specific immigration policies seriously, it might not act to mitigate them.

Temporary foreign worker programs, for example, are a win for employers. In theory these programs are necessary because employers struggle to find qualified Canadian workers. Yet economists Ian O’Donnell and Mikal Skuterud have found that a significant number of jobs filled by temporary foreign workers do not require any qualifications or skills other than the ability to do hard physical labour. The jobs are hard to fill because the wages are low and the work is unpleasant; for example, $15.80 per hourto do physically demanding, fast-paced, dangerous work in a meat packing plant – at night, if needed.

People will take hard, badly paid jobs if they have no better alternatives (or if the jobs provide a route to citizenship). In Canada, those with the fewest alternatives are temporary foreign workers. My colleagues Pierre Brochu, Till Gross and Christopher Worswick have found that such workers, especially those from low-income countries, have less absenteeism and work longer hours than other workers. This is why no amount of immigration will eliminate firms’ claims that they must hire temporary foreign workers: People are more likely to show up to work if being fired jeopardizes their right to live and work here.

It’s not so much a labour shortage that fuels employers’ support for temporary foreign worker programs as a zest for profit – specifically a desire for a plentiful supply of low-wage workers to fill unattractive positions. But more people competing for low-wage jobs makes it harder for less qualified workers to find employment and dampens upward pressure on wages.

Immigration policy, as with all policy, involves trade-offs – in this case, between higher profits for companies and higher pay for employees. Economist Armine Yalnizyan has long argued for replacing temporary foreign worker programs with higher levels of permanent immigration: If people are good enough to work here, they are good enough to stay and build their lives here. But permanent residents have options that temporary foreign workers lack. They can work as many or as few hours as they choose and are free to work for any employer. This means that, to attract permanent residents, employers have to make workers an offer that is competitive with their other options – and that means improving wages or working conditions or both. Different policy, different trade-offs.

The federal government, in announcing its new immigration plans last year, introduced both enhanced temporary foreign worker programs and increased permanent immigration. If it was trying to make everyone happy, it failed.

Newcomers increase the supply of workers, but they also increase demand – for food and shelter, for example. In the long run, these two effects usually more or less cancel each other out. In the short run, they do not.

The government hoped to avoid worsening the housing crisis by attracting newcomers to small towns and rural communities. But such a strategy forgets that immigrants are people, too. Like people born in Canada, they are pulled by economic gravity to urban centres where there are jobs, social networks and cultural supports.

Yet Canada’s big cities have no more room to sprawl – and it would be bad policy to let them. Most of this country’s population lives in a few concentrated areas such as the Quebec City-Windsor corridor and B.C.’s Fraser Valley. Most of the rest of Canada has a harsh climate or would be very expensive to develop or both. We are not a vast, underpopulated country; we are a densely populated, highly urban, diverse country. We need immigration, housing and transportation policies that reflect that reality.

Most of all, we need to stop viewing immigration as a get-rich-quick scheme. Immigration policy involves trade-offs. We need to be honest about the fact that immigration creates winners and losers, at least in the short run, and figure out ways of preserving the benefits of immigration, both for established Canadians and newcomers, while protecting those who stand to lose out.

Frances Woolley is a professor of economics at Carleton University.

Source: Stop seeing immigration as a get-rich-quick scheme for Canada’s economy

Filed under Immigration Tagged with ,

Rioux: Un parfum de colonialisme

2023/09/23 Leave a comment

Good column on the questionable morality of recruiting skilled healthcare workers from developing countries. Of course, individuals from this countries naturally seek better opportunities:

Il y a des nouvelles qui tombent à plat. Sitôt apparues, elles disparaissent comme par enchantement dans le grand trou noir de l’information. C’est comme si tout le monde, les politiques, les médias et même le public, se donnait le mot pour regarder ailleurs en attendant qu’on parle d’autre chose.

C’est un peu ce qui s’est passé la semaine dernière avec cette information révélant que les campagnes de recrutement de personnel de la santé que mène régulièrement le Québec en Afrique contribuent à fragiliser encore plus des pays africains dont la situation sanitaire est déjà précaire.

À l’encontre de toutes les politiques de l’Organisation mondiale de la santé (OMS), le Québec mène depuis longtemps des campagnes de recrutement dans des pays comme le Bénin, le Cameroun, la Côte d’Ivoire et le Togo. L’an dernier, il annonçait vouloir recruter 1000 infirmières étrangères, pour la plupart africaines. Souvent des infirmières expérimentées. Dans quelques jours débuteront d’ailleurs des entretiens d’embauche avec des candidats du Cameroun, de la Côte d’Ivoire et du Togo, sélectionnés dans le cadre des Journées Québec Afrique subsahariennes. Depuis 2017, le Québec aurait ainsi recruté plus de 1900 travailleurs de la santé, dont de nombreuses infirmières, provenant de 24 pays d’Afrique, d’Amérique du Sud et d’Europe.

Faut-il en conclure que le Québec ne se gêne pas pour participer sans retenue au pillage des cerveaux de ces pays pauvres ? À titre d’exemple, le Cameroun et le Bénin possèdent respectivement moins de 2 et 3 infirmières pour 10 000 habitants alors que, pour la même population, le Québec n’en compte pas moins de 77 ! L’OMS n’est pas seule à penser que ce pillage organisé est indigne du Québec. L’Association des infirmières et infirmiers marocains avait déjà accusé le Canada d’« épuiser les ressources infirmières des autres pays dans lesquels il y a également une pénurie ».

En guise de réponse, nos responsables se contentent généralement de regarder la pointe de leurs souliers en balbutiant du bout des lèvres qu’ils font un recrutement… éthique ! Personne n’aime se faire dire ses quatre vérités, surtout pas les partisans de l’immigration de masse, qui prétendent chaque fois se porter ainsi au secours de l’humanité souffrante. Et si cet « immigrationisme » vertueux n’était au fond que le nouveau visage du bon vieux colonialisme affublé d’un beau tampon humanitaire ?

Il y a longtemps que des chercheurs comme le démographe Emmanuel Todd ont expliqué le fait que, dans un monde où la communication mène le bal, le pillage des cerveaux avait remplacé celui des ressources naturelles. Cette « véritable prédation démographique », écrit-il, serait même plus grave que celle des ressources naturelles, car elle met aujourd’hui « en péril le développement de pays qui décollent ».

Parmi les milliers de migrants qui ont littéralement envahi l’île de Lampedusa la semaine dernière, personne ne s’est demandé — pas même le pape — combien il y avait de mécaniciens, de boulangers ou d’aides-infirmières qui désertent ainsi leurs pays. L’ancien journaliste de Libération Stephen Smith, professeur d’études africaines à l’Université Duke, en Caroline du Nord, a montré dans ses études que, contrairement à ce que sérine la presse, ce ne sont pas les plus pauvres qui émigrent. Ceux-là, en général, n’en ont pas les moyens. En cas de nécessité, ils se déplacent dans un pays voisin. Ceux qui se retrouvent chez nous sont ceux qui peuvent se le payer et qui pourraient donc au mieux contribuer à consolider la classe moyenne de leur pays.

Dans notre vision misérabiliste de l’Afrique — une vision encore aggravée par le catastrophisme climatique —, il ne nous viendrait pas à l’idée que les pays africains qui progressent, et il y en a, ont un urgent besoin de ces travailleurs pour se sortir de la misère. À Madagascar, en 2016, alors qu’il distribuait des bourses d’études, Philippe Couillard s’était ainsi fait rappeler à l’ordre par la ministre de l’Enseignement supérieur de Madagascar, qui lui dit que la plupart de ces boursiers ne revenaient jamais au pays. Et qu’ils étaient donc une perte sèche pour l’île. Belle charité que celle qui ne sert que le bienfaiteur. Ce jour-là, Philippe Couillard avait lui aussi longuement regardé ses souliers.

Dans ce que le politologue Pierre-André Taguieff appelle « l’utopie messianique du salut par l’immigration » — un mal très répandu au Canada —, il y a un mépris profond pour les peuples de nos pays, qui n’auraient d’avenir démographique, économique et culturel qu’en accueillant le plus d’étrangers possible.

Il y a aussi un mépris pour l’Afrique, car il sera toujours plus valorisant de s’épandre en larmes sur la misère africaine que d’appeler ces pays à se prendre en main et de les y aider à le faire. Ce qui me frappe toujours chez ceux qui ne jurent que par cette immigration providentielle, c’est leur désintérêt à peu près complet pour les pays pauvres. Comme si le seul avenir des Africains était de se déverser en nombre toujours plus grand dans nos beaux et grands pays riches et démocratiques. Ne sentez-vous pas là un étrange parfum de colonialisme ?

Source: Un parfum de colonialisme

Filed under Immigration Tagged with , ,

← Older posts

Newer posts →