The Principles of Trump University Now Apply to Our Immigration Policy

2019/11/29 Leave a comment

Speaks for itself:

Let’s say you’re a highly motivated immigrant kid from India who comes (legally) to Michigan. You want to study, say, computer science. So you run into another student from India who tells you about this place called the University of Farmington, where you can get your degree. The cost is relatively cheap as American colleges go: $12,000 a year, plus fees. This sounds great, you think.

Then, one day, after you’ve paid your money, the gang from ICE shows up, busts you for immigration violations, keeps all the money you paid for your classes, and ships you back to India. Or, they offer you a chance to pitch this university to other people in your same situation, people who get deported later. Then you get busted for fraud and sent to jail. But at least you’re still in the United States for a while, so there’s that.

Welcome to United States immigration policy in 2019. From the Detroit Free Press:

“A total of about 250 students have now been arrested since January on immigration violations by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) as part of a sting operation by federal agents … The students had arrived legally in the U.S. on student visas, but since the University of Farmington was later revealed to be a creation of federal agents, they lost their immigration status after it was shut down in January. The school was … staffed with undercover agents posing as university officials. Out of the approximately 250 students arrested on administrative charges, “nearly 80% were granted voluntary departure and departed the United States,” the Detroit office of ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) told the Free Press in a statement Tuesday.”

Plot twist No. 1 coming.

“ICE said in March that 161 students had been arrested, which has now increased to about 250. Meanwhile, seven of the eight recruiters who were criminally charged for trying to recruit students have pleaded guilty and have been sentenced in Detroit, including Prem Rampeesa, 27, last week. The remaining one is to be sentenced in January. Rampeesa was sentenced Nov, 19 to one year in prison by Judge Gershwin Drain of U.S. District Court in Detroit. With time already served of 295 days, he should be out in about two to three months, and will then be deported to India, said his attorney Wanda Cal. He pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit visa fraud and harbor aliens for profit. …

Rampeesa arrived in the U.S. legally a few years ago on a student visa and earned in 2016 a master’s degree in computer science at Northwestern Polytechnic University. But the university later lost its accreditation, which put his immigration status in jeopardy. He had spent $40,000 in tuition and fees for his studies at the university.

“He was desperate to find a way to stay in the United States,” Rampeesa’s attorney, Cal, wrote in his sentencing memo. He wanted to get a Ph.D. in computer science, she said. Rampeesa then met Sama, who recruited him to attend the University of Farmington and told him he could get tuition credits if he recruited other students, Cal said. Sama and Rampeesa were working with people they thought were university officials, but were actually undercover agents for the Department of Homeland Security.”

First, you convince some students that your university is real so you can bust them. Then you convince other students that they should help you recruit still other students for your university. Then you bust this second group of students and the people you entrapped to entrap them. Lovely.

And, of course, there’s the money, which ended up God knows where. Maybe in the university endowment.

“Emails obtained by the Free Press earlier this year showed how the fake university attracted students to the university… The U.S. “trapped the vulnerable people who just wanted to maintain (legal immigration) status,” Rahul Reddy, a Texas attorney who represented or advised some of the students arrested, told the Free Press this week. “They preyed upon on them.” The fake university is believed to have collected millions of dollars from the unsuspecting students. … “They made a lot of money,” Reddy said of the U.S. government.”

Of course, the prosecutors held the students at their fake university liable for stealing their own money.

“Attorneys for ICE and the Department of Justice maintain that the students should have known it was not a legitimate university because it did not have classes in a physical location. Some CPT programs have classes combined with work programs at companies. “Their true intent could not be clearer,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Brandon Helms wrote in a sentencing memo this month for Rampeesa, one of the eight recruiters, of the hundreds of students enrolled. “While ‘enrolled’ at the University, one hundred percent of the foreign citizen students never spent a single second in a classroom. If it were truly about obtaining an education, the University would not have been able to attract anyone, because it had no teachers, classes, or educational services.”

Of course, the whole scam was set up as yet another vehicle to restrict immigration to this country, and to delegitimize programs already in place. In related news, you all are still paying Stephen Miller’s salary.

“Baker wrote that “immigration and visa programs have been hot-button topics in the United States for years and national scrutiny has only been increasing. Fairly or unfairly, Rampeesa’s conduct casts a shadow on the foreign-student visa program in general, and it raises questions as to whether the potential for abuse threatens to outweigh the benefits.” Reddy said, though, that in some cases, students who transferred out from the University of Farmington after realizing they didn’t have classes on-site, were still arrested.”

And thus were the basic principles behind Trump University enshrined in federal law enforcement.

Source: The Principles of Trump University Now Apply to Our Immigration Policy

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High immigration is changing the Aussie way of life

2019/11/29 Leave a comment

Some of the same concerns could be applied to current and planned Canadian high immigration levels:

The nation’s economic elite – politicians of all colours, businesspeople and economists – long ago decided we need to grow our population as fast as we can. To them, their reasons for believing this are so blindingly obvious they don’t need to be discussed.

Unfortunately, however, it’s doubtful most ordinary Australians agree. A survey last year by researchers at the Australian National University found that more than 69 per cent of respondents felt we didn’t need more people, well up on a similar poll in 2010.

This may explain why Scott Morrison announced before this year’s election a big cut in our permanent migrant intake – while failing to mention that our booming temporary migrant intake wouldn’t be constrained.

He also foreshadowed measures to encourage more migrants to settle in regional cities. What he didn’t say is what he’d be doing differently this time, given the many times such efforts had failed in the past.

In between scandalising over the invading hordes of boat people, John Howard greatly increased the immigration intake after the turn of the century, and this has been continued by the later Labor and Coalition governments. “Net overseas migration” accounts for about 60 per cent of our population growth.

In 2000, the Australian Bureau of Statistics projected that our population wouldn’t reach 25.4 million until 2051. We got there this year. Our population is growing much faster than other developed countries are.

The growth in our economy has been so weak over the past year that they’ve had to stop saying it, but for years our politicians boasted about how much faster our economy was growing than the other economies.

What they invariably failed to mention was that most of our faster growth was explained by our faster-growing population, not our increasing prosperity. Over the year to June, for instance, real gross domestic product grew by (a pathetic) 1.4 per cent, whereas GDP per person actually fell by 0.2 per cent.

That’s telling us that, despite the growth in the economy, on average our material standard of living is stagnant. All that immigration isn’t making the rest of us any better off in monetary terms.

Of course, that’s just a crude average. You can be sure some people are better off as a result of all the migration. Our business people have always demanded high migration because of their confidence that a bigger market allows them to make bigger profits.

Economists, on the other hand, are supposed to believe in economic growth because it makes all of us better off. They’re not supposed to believe in growth for its own sake.

This week one of the few interest groups devoted to opposing high migration, Sustainable Population Australia, issued a discussion paper that’s worth discussing. It reminds us that many of the problems we complain about are symptoms of migration.

The biggest issue is infrastructure. We need additional public infrastructure – and private business equipment and structures, and housing – to accommodate the needs of every extra person (locally born as well as immigrant) if average living standards aren’t to fall.

Taking just public infrastructure – covering roads, public transport, hospitals, schools, electricity, water and sewage, policing, law and justice, parks and open space and much more – the discussion paper estimates that every extra person requires well over $100,000 of infrastructure spending.

When governments fail to keep up with this need – as they have been, despite a surge in spending lately – congestion on roads and public transport is just the most obvious disruption we suffer.

The International Monetary Fund’s latest report on our economy says we have “a notable infrastructure gap compared to other advanced economies”. Spending is “not keeping up with population and economic growth”. We have a forecast annual gap averaging about 0.35 per cent of GDP for basic infrastructure (roads, rail, water, ports) plus a smaller gap for social infrastructure (schools, hospitals, prisons).

One factor increasing the cost of infrastructure is that about two-thirds of migrants settle in the already crowded cities of Sydney and Melbourne – each of whose populations is projected to reach 10 million in the next 50 years, with Melbourne overtaking Sydney.

According to a Productivity Commission report, “growing populations will place pressure on already strained transport systems. Yet available choices for new investments are constrained by the increasingly limited availability of unutilised land”.

New developments such as Sydney’s WestConnex have required land reclamation, costly compensation arrangements, or otherwise more expensive alternatives such as tunnels. It’s reported to cost $515 million a kilometre, with Melbourne’s West Gate Tunnel costing $1.34 billion a kilometre.

Who pays for all this? We do – one way or another. “Funding will inevitably be borne by the Australian community either through user-pays fees or general taxation,” the commission says.

Combine our growing population with lower rainfall and increased evaporation from climate change and water will become a perennial problem and an ever-rising expense to householders and farmers alike.

The housing industry’s frequent failure to keep up with the demand for new homes adds to the price of housing. And the only way we’ll double the populations of Melbourne and Sydney is by moving to a lot more high-rise living.

High immigration is changing the Aussie way of life. Before long, only the rich will be able to afford a detached house with a backyard.

Source: High immigration is changing the Aussie way of life

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Immigration New Zealand accused of slowing down applications

2019/11/28 Leave a comment

Would be nice to have some hard data rather than just anecdotes:

The immigration industry says officials are using what one lawyer described as Trump-style “extreme vetting” to limit immigration numbers.

Immigration representatives say bureaucratic tactics are being used to slow down residence processing, a claim Immigration New Zealand (INZ) denies.

New residents fell to the lowest levels since the turn of the century this year despite a sharp increase in applications.

Restaurant owner blasts Immigration NZ over delays

An Auckland restaurant owner feels helpless and ignored by Immigration New Zealand as he tries to sort out visas problems for his foreign workers.

The number of residence applications rose sharply from a low of 15,000 in April last year to 35,000 last month, according to figures from the INZ website.

The body that represents immigration lawyers and advisers, the Association for Migration and Investment, said it was concerned at the visa process slowdown and whether there were ulterior motives for it.

“When a case officer can come back and ask for any additional information, you’d think they’d come back and ask for all the things extra they need,” its chair June Ranson said.

“The problem is, you give them that, and then it’s almost as if they invent another question. Rather than wrapping it all in together, they go backwards and forwards – it’s almost like you’ve got a new penpal, and they want to keep in touch with you.

“That is totally inefficient, but it is happening, and it just drags out the application so you wonder if there’s ulterior motives to it.”

Immigration lawyer Richard Small said there was a growing culture of ‘extreme vetting’ alongside a decrease in discretion in decision-making.

US President Donald Trump took office promising to enact an “extreme vetting” immigration system. American academics say having been blocked on building a wall with Mexico to limit immigration numbers, the administration is using the ‘invisible walls’ of long processing times and administrative changes to make it harder for immigrants to work, settle and visit family there.

Case officers in New Zealand were asking for information they did not usually request and which were sometimes not contained in immigration instructions, said immigration adviser Toni Alexander.

“I had to remind an officer over and over that a medical was cleared, for instance, now when there should be no further obstacles, she has decided to submit a request for an NZ police clearance, a request which should have been made a very long time ago. A police clearance can take six weeks – so it is just a delaying tactic.

“We’re frequently told [by case officers] ‘oh well, my technical advisor told me to ask for this’. So they’re being instructed from above and it’s a process of slowing down applications because technical advisers are senior people, and they know the instructions very well, as well as we do.”

Immigrants had been waiting so long that even their extended temporary visas were now expiring, she said, adding expense and inconvenience.

They were being asked to resubmit evidence that had become out-dated because of the delays.

INZBorder and Visa Operations general manager Nicola Hogg said in a statement there had been no attempt to slow visa processing.

“New Zealand continues to be an attractive destination and application volumes have been increasing steadily across all categories,” she said.

“We are also seeing an increase in the level of risk and complexity in applications.

“Certain applications are always going to take longer to process because of the risk factors present.”

There were two main stages when applicants were asked for additional information: when the application was first received and after it was allocated to a case officer.

“However, sometimes when we receive information, we need to make an additional request for further information – for example, if the information supplied is insufficient to demonstrate immigration requirements are met,” she added.

Source: Immigration New Zealand accused of slowing down applications

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Ramos and Griffith: Human rights defenders should boycott immigration conference in Beijing

2019/11/26 Leave a comment

Our op-ed in the Ottawa Citizen (part of the national Postmedia chain for those outside of Canada):

The number of international events being hosted by China is on the rise. At first glance, one might argue that global exchange is a mechanism for the West to normalize democratic values and open science. However, the world is increasingly witnessing repressive regimes, such as that in China, rise in influence at the cost of human rights and democracy. This then raises the question: Does participating in events hosted by such regimes promote engagement or complicity?

The Chinese regime has created a number of quasi-independent groups, such as the Center for China and Globalization (CCG), which bills itself as “China’s leading global non-governmental think tank with more than 10 branches and overseas representatives.” The CCG is in fact part of the United Front Work Department, a branch of the Chinese Communist Party that aims to exert Chinese government influence around the world. Both organizations are key pillars in attracting conferences to China, which means that their events will most likely legitimize the regime on the international stage, rather than curb it through engagement.

One example of how this plays out can be seen through the International Metropolis Conference, which involves government policy makers, academics and non-governmental sector organizations and is set to be held in Beijing this coming June. The CCG was a key stakeholder in wooing the conference’s secretariat and bringing it to China. The conference focuses on immigration and refugee issues and is widely known for promoting multiculturalism, diversity and inclusion. It was founded in 1996 with Canadian government funding and with strong links with Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada which hosted last year’s conference. Its secretariat is currently based at Carleton University. The conference and the “Metropolis” brand are almost synonymous with Canadian immigration.

Does participating in events hosted by such regimes promote engagement or complicity?Holding such a conference in China under the current regime can only legitimize Beijing’s human rights abuses. Both the United Nations and Amnesty International have issued reports warning that China is actively suppressing its ethnic minority populations. Up to one million  Muslim Uighur are being held in “re-education centres,” which are essentially prison camps. It is ironic to hold a conference on refugees in a country that produced them, and doing so is an act of complicity.

Based on past practices of the regime, it is almost certain that Chinese authorities will not permit a free and open exchange of ideas on relevant Chinese policy and practice. Foreign speakers will likely be discouraged from talking about issues that might “offend” the government, or will censor themselves. Chinese participants will be prohibited from doing so. It is also very likely that minders will be present to monitor and intervene in the event of any real or perceived criticism.

Some might argue that participating in the conference is a means to change the regime and that all countries have blemishes. Canada, for instance, still wrestles with ongoing colonialism. But, there is a major difference between countries that have entrenched human rights in their legislation and those, such as China, who do not. It is naïve to think that hosting an event in China will change its practices.

For this reason, more than 150 academics and representatives of non-governmental groups from across Canada and 11 countries signed a petition against both holding and attending the International Metropolis Conference in Beijing. They recognize that it is not too late to do something about the message Canada and other democratic countries send when they fund and participate in events in China, and that it is not too late for individual Canadians to make a difference.

It is time for Canada and other Western countries to recognize they cannot assume that policy and academic exchange will change repressive regimes. Rather it could potentially legitimate them or send the signal that the international community is willing to turn a blind eye. For these reasons it is time to rethink when it is appropriate to participate in events held by repressive regimes. Failing to do so risks compromising Canadian and international human rights values.

Source: https://ottawacitizen.com/opinion/columnists/ramos-and-griffith-human-rights-defenders-should-boycott-immigration-conference-in-beijing

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Trudeau Turns the Page on #Immigration. About time! : Corriere Canadese

2019/11/25 Leave a comment

The Corriere Canadese and its editor, former Liberal immigration minister Joe Volpe (Martin government) has been advocating for Hussen’s ouster for some time (the criticisms are overblown IMO).

We will never know whether these concerns played a role in his replacement by an Italian Canadian, but as noted before, there has been tension for some time between traditional and newer immigrant groups supporting the Liberals. For example, the Saint Léonard-Saint Michel Liberal nomination contest between Italian Canadian and non-Italian Canadian candidates being a recent example.

The program actually plays little attention to citizenship or country of origin, contrary to what is asserted in the article. Moreover, Express Entry dramatically improved processing times for economic class immigrants. And visible minorities have formed close to 80 percent of all immigrants over the past 20 years.

But a good example of tension between historic and newer groups of new Canadians, and how they perceive their relative influence on Liberal immigration policies:

The first signs are positive. Justin Trudeau has decided to intervene in the immigration department chaos with the replacement of the now exminister Ahmed Hussen by promoting Marco Mendicino to the delicate post. During these last two years, Corriere Canadese has strongly denounced the systemic inconsistencies in the management of migration flows by the Executive – the Minister -responsible for those flaws, the contradictions and the endemic problems that have permeated the immigration sector in our country.

Our survey of the last two weeks has documented with numbers, data and statistics – all provided directly by the Ministry of Immigration – the poor state of health of the entire system, the absurdity of the results produced, the imbalances among geographic origins of the immigrants, the bizarre bureaucratic, linguistic and regulatory obstacles of the Express Entry.

The question was/is very simple: is the current system able to provide a trained and qualified workforce to meet the needs of the Canadian labour market in a timely fashion? The answer was/ is equally simple: absolutely not.

As it is structured, the system itself pays more attention to the citizenship of the newcomers than to their professional preparation, to their work experience or, above all, to the requirements requested by Canadian companies and businesses. It goes without saying that it is necessary to turn the page, intervening with significant structural changes – and not mere cosmetic operations. If that is not enough, then one should consider a complete repeal of the Express Entry program.

This program, envisioned by Harper conservatives, Jason Kenney and Chris Alexander, Conservative Cabinet Ministers, came into force in January 2015.

It has become quite clear that even the Current Prime Minister has not been overwhelmed with enthusiasm by Ahmed Hussen’s work in the two and a half years in offiŽce. His demotion from a key department of government to a previously non-existent Ministry without a portfolio is a clear signal that even Trudeau realized that the management of migration flows in the previous legislature represented a weak point in government action.

Moreover, it was a source of controversy and internal splits creating friction with many communities, starting with Italian Canadians.

The appointment of Mendicino, Eglinton-Lawrence’s MP of Italian origin, represents a clear and precise response to the complaints we have supported – by giving space – for Hussen’s work.

That said, we must point out that, in our opinion, the decision to appoint Mendicino Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship is not the goal but a starting point.

He will face a huge amount of work and many problems to solve: the Express Entry, as we have said, but also the thorny issues of undocumented foreign workers – “resolved” by his predecessor with a cynical rise shrug of his shoulders – the inconsistencies of the family reunification system, those of the hasty deportations that violate any principle of common sense and the delicate relationship with the various Provinces on demographic matters.

That sometimes, it is right to point out, they also put their own. Just look at what happened in Ontario, where Prime Minister Doug Ford after the victory of 2018 had the “brilliant idea” – one of many, to tell the truth – to eliminate the Provincial Ministry of Immigration and to entrust its competencies to the Minister for Children and Community and Social Services, a position currently held by Lisa MacLeod.

So, in wishing the new minister good work, we also ask that the government have the strength to turn to ensure that Immigration returns to being one of the strengths of our country’s economic, social and demographic growth.

Source: Trudeau Turns the Page on Immigration. About time!

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Is It Time To Revive Canada’s Federal Immigrant Investor Program? – Immigration – Canada

2019/11/23 Leave a comment

Short answer: no it is not. And Singer conveniently omits the major reason for the program’s termination: no real benefits to Canada (see the IRCC evaluation Evaluation of the Federal Business Immigration Programhttps://www.canada.ca › ircc › ircc › english › pdf › pub › e2-2013_fbip):

As the US hikes investment limits for the EB-5, Canada should consider reviving the suspended Canada Immigrant Investor Program.

As the US implements a massive 80 percent hike in minimum investments for the EB-5 program, it is an appropriate time to question the rationale behind Canada’s decision to completely ignore investment immigration. 

The Canada Immigrant Investor Program was one of the most sought-after investment immigration programs in the world when it was terminated in June 2014. 

Reasons for its termination included:

  • High demand from wealthy investors.

  • Spiraling real estate prices due to the influx of foreign funds into the sector. 

  • Lack of real benefits to the Canadian economy, and 

  • Disquiet over sale of permanent residence status and, indirectly, Canadian citizenship.

Source: Is It Time To Revive Canada’s Federal Immigrant Investor Program? – Immigration – Canada

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Researchers urge boycott of migration conference slated for China

2019/11/21 Leave a comment

The Star on our petition:

As Canada struggles to thaw its frosty relationship with China, academics and researchers are boycotting the world’s largest conference on migration, settlement and diversity to be held in Beijing.

The group has launched an online petition urging that the 2020 International Metropolis migration conference be relocated to a country other than China, due to its poor human rights record: the repression of the Muslim Uighur and Tibetan minorities, threats to Hong Kong’s legal and judicial independence, and the detention of foreign nationals, including Canadian businessman Michael Spavor and former diplomat Michael Kovrig.

Canada currently has a travel advisory for China urging people to exercise a high degree of caution due to “the risk of arbitrary enforcement of local laws” as well as one for Hong Kong because of the ongoing massive anti-government protests. So far, more than 150 academic researchers and other migration experts have signed the petition.

“If Canadian academics and policy-makers, as well as those from other countries, do not participate, it sends a signal that the regime cannot credibly claim to promote academic freedom or have inclusive policies around multiculturalism, immigration or diversity,” said Dalhousie University sociology professor Howard Ramos, who learned that Beijing would be the venue for next year’s conference in an email in late summer.

“Countries that host events on immigration and refugees should be ones that respect academic freedom and the rights of minorities,” he said. “Canada is a leading immigration country and Canadian experts are among the top in the field. A conference on immigration and refugees without them misses cutting-edge policy and scholarship.”

The conference is organized by the International Metropolis Network, made up of experts from around the world in migration and settlement policies as a platform where state officials, non-government organizations and researchers share ideas and discuss best policies to manage migration and integration.

A world leader in global migration, Canada was instrumental in the establishment of the international network of experts, with one of the organization’s three secretariats located at Carleton University. The event attracts as many as 1,000 participants and presenters a year and has been held around the world, including in Nagoya, Japan in 2016, the only time it was held in Asia.

Jan Rath, co-chair of the Metropolis International Steering Committee, said Metropolis has always been an “apolitical” body that believes in engagement and dialogue over isolation, and stands by the selection of the Beijing-based think tank, the Centre for China and Globalization, as the host of the 2020 conference.

Rath said they were aware of the “tense” relationship between Canada and China, adding that Beijing was picked after Berlin and Istanbul withdrew their bids.

“Canada is a free country and people are free to raise their concerns, but we want to make our points clear that we are not endorsing Chinese policies,” said Rath, a sociology professor at the University of Amsterdam. “The steering committee is co-hosting the conference with the think tank, which has no direct involvement of the Chinese government.”

However, Andrew Griffith, a former director-general with the Canadian immigration department, said the Centre for China and Globalization is effectively part of the Chinese government and he fears the conference will be used to legitimize Beijing’s policies and practices.

“It is highly likely that Chinese authorities will not permit a free and open exchange of ideas on relevant Chinese policy or practice. Foreign speakers will be discouraged from raising issues that might ‘offend’ the government,” said Griffith, who is among the initiators of the petition.

He said “minders” will be present to “monitor and intervene in the event of any real or perceived criticism.”

Source: Researchers urge boycott of migration conference slated for China

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Immigrants’ occupational segregation in France: “brown-collar” jobs or a Sub-Saharan African disadvantage?

2019/11/21 Leave a comment

Unfortunately behind a paywall but looks interesting:

Large-scale labour migration is considered a recent phenomenon in most European countries; however, immigrants have been an integral part of the French labour-force nearly as long as in the United States. Numerous studies document Sub-Saharan African immigrants’ employment and wage disadvantages in France; however, few investigate an important aspect of Sub-Saharan African immigrants’ integration – occupational segregation. Using 2011 French census data, I examine Sub-Saharan African immigrants’ occupational segregation. I find that all immigrants are concentrated, but only Sub-Saharan Africans are concentrated in low-skilled work regardless of citizenship. Department-level regression analyses measuring occupational segregation show that after controlling for socioeconomic characteristics, Sub-Saharan Africans are most segregated. Control variables explain less of Sub-Saharan African women’s segregation than any other group indicating that they experience more discrimination in the labour market than even Sub-Saharan African men. Future research using longitudinal data is needed to determine if these results reflect a persistent disadvantage.

Source: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01419870.2019.1686162?journalCode=rers20

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Marco Mendicino appointed new Canadian immigration minister: Backstory?

2019/11/21 Leave a comment

A possible backstory for this appointment is that there has been considerable discontent among some Italian Canadians over their relative under-representation in key posts (see the Saint-Léonard Saint-Michel Liberal nomination where a non-Italian, Hassan Guillet, won what was viewed as an Italian Canadian seat before his candidacy being revoked by the LPC and being replaced by Patricia Lattanzio).

More notably, former Liberal immigration minister in the Martin government and current editor of Corriere Canadese, Joe Volpe, has been particularly strident in his critique of Ahmed Hussen:

“Corriere publisher Joe Volpe exhorts Anne McLellan, advisor to Justin Trudeau, to tell the Prime Minister to get rid of those federal ministers who never should have been called to government, first among them Ahmed Hussen. As Immigration Minister, Hussen has been a complete disaster. Nonetheless, approximately 300,000 new entrants, as well as international student visa holders, refugees, and the more than one million undocumented workers (and their families), are at his mercy. Closer to home, he has not lifted a finger to make use of the human resources potential of Italian emigrants ‘young, educated and skilled’ who are leaving Italy each year, going everywhere except Canada. Dismiss him before he causes more damage to the country’s demographic fabric and the Liberal brand, Volpe says.” (1 November, Italian, Corriere Canadese)

—-

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has named Marco Mendicino as Canada’s next Minister of Immigration Refugee and Citizenship Canada.

Mendicino has an extensive background in law. For nearly 10 years he worked as a federal prosecutor, during which time he put members of the “Toronto 18” terror group behind bars. He also worked at the Law Society of Upper Canada, and was the President of the Association of Justice Counsel, where he served for two terms. Mendicino has also advocated for better laws on organized crime and access to justice before the House of Commons and the Senate.

At the time of swearing-in on November 20, he was serving as the parliamentary secretary to the Minister of Infrastructure and Communities. He was involved in advancing government green infrastructure and social infrastructure in Toronto and across Canada.

He was re-elected as the Member of Parliament in the Eglinton-Lawrence riding on October 21, 2019 with 53 per cent of voter support. Before being elected in 2015 he developed a lunch program for families with children going into kindergarten or the installation of a new turf field at John Wanless Public School.

In 2017 he served as the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, where he helped to advance federal priorities such as Criminal Justice Reform, Reconciliation with Indigenous peoples and Restorative Justice.

The new Minister of Immigration also sat on a number of boards and has been involved with the John Wanless Childcare Centre, John Wanless Public School, North Toronto Soccer Club, COSTI Immigration Services, the Toronto Symphony Volunteer Committee and Heart & Stroke Canada.

Mendicino will be replacing Ahmed Hussen who lead Immigration, Refugee and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) since 2017. Hussen will be taking over the role of Minister of Families Children and Social Development.

Source: https://www.cicnews.com/2019/11/marco-mendicino-appointed-new-canadian-immigration-minister-1113215.html#gs.hcxcwg

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Thousands of international students cited in government report for breaking rules

2019/11/19 Leave a comment

Yet more details on fraud among international students. Good and needed investigative reporting:

Canada issued Anass El Kamel a student visa to study at the Université de Moncton, but the Moroccan man never attended a single class or even lived in New Brunswick.

Instead, upon arriving in Canada in 2017, he settled in Montreal and got a job with a parking management company, claiming illness prevented him from starting school. Immigration officials tracked him down and ordered him to leave Canada a year later for failing to “actively” study as his visa required.

A Federal Court decision against El Kamel stated, “The (education) program he was to complete in Canada was not of great concern to him. He simply wanted to quickly complete a program so that he could then apply for permanent residence in Canada.”

El Kamel is clearly not the only international student with that intent. For the first time, an internal 2018 government report reveals data on the possible misuse of student visas to gain access to Canada.

According to the report from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, obtained under an access to information request, roughly 10 per cent of international students enrolled in post-secondary institutions are “potentially” not complying with the conditions of their study permits for anything from academic suspensions to no-shows. But the number of students breaking the rules is likely higher because schools fail to report the enrolment status of up to 20 per cent of international students.

Price of Admission, an ongoing joint investigation by the Toronto Star and the St. Catharines Standard this fall, looked at the exponential growth of international students, particularly in the Ontario college system, and its impacts on Canada’s immigration and education systems. Reporting found evidence of students using their study permits as a pathway for jobs and permanent residence in Canada.

“The volume of non-compliance should not really be a surprise to anyone. Most international students at the community college level are edu-immigration clients. If they can avoid school and gain immigration status through work opportunities, that’s what all of them would do,” said Earl Blaney a London, Ont., immigration consultant who doubles as an education agent in the Philippines. “Having a study permit offers direct access to employers for this purpose.”

Canada’s immigration department does not have dedicated funding to monitor and investigate if international students are following immigration rules. The detection of “non-genuine students” largely relies on an honour system through reporting by the hundreds of learning institutions designated by each province.

School administrators have been required to report on international student enrolment status since 2016. This followed an explosion of international student enrolment in Canada after 2014, when immigration policy changes made it easier for students who study at publicly funded institutions to work and apply for permanent residency. There are more than 572,000 international students across Canada, a 73 per cent hike over the past five years.

The partially redacted internal government report obtained by the Star found that 90 per cent — or 587 of the 655 schools — submitted data on enrolment.

School administrators, in the spring of 2018, identified 9 per cent, or 28,049 of the 316,531 study permit holders, as being “potentially non-compliant.” They failed to report the enrolment status of 16 per cent, or 51,051 of the international students.

The report said that since 2018, officials have also been checking school acceptance letters international students use to apply for study permits. So far, 10,400 acceptance letters have been referred for verification; 12 per cent, or 1,240 cases, were identified as fraudulent.

Colleges and Institutes Canada, the largest national post-secondary advocacy group in the country, said it is challenging to track international students after arrival.

“The integrity of the international student program is very important. It’s a top priority for us and our members to ensure all students access to quality education in Canada. Nobody benefits from students not showing up in class,” said Denise Amyot, CEO and president of the group, which represents 135 schools across Canada.

An international student who switches to a different school from the one they originally planned to attend can be wrongly deemed non-compliant if the student doesn’t update their immigration records.

“Sometimes people have valid reasons to be non-compliant with the conditions in their study permits. Maybe they have to go home for a family emergency,” explained Amyot.

What further complicates the reporting process is that the immigration department had not clearly defined what “actively” pursuing an academic program really meant until earlier this year when updated guidelines were published, detailing expectations as well as evidence required for proof of enrolment, said Blaney, the immigration consultant.

“Students had no idea what ‘actively pursue’ meant or what the consequences were until these program delivery instructions occurred six years after the compliance regime was put in place,” he noted.

A recent federal court decision pointed to these criteria when approving a decision by immigration officials to kick out international student, Kaur Gursimran, who came to Canada from India in 2016 to study business at Simon Fraser University. She later transferred to Kwantlen Polytechnic University in Surrey, B.C., then to Canadian College, in Vancouver.

“She changed schools and programs, moving from business programs into a general arts and science program in spite of her permit specifying that she is to study business or commerce. Additionally, she took off two semesters in three years, and failed more courses than she has passed,” said Justice Ann Marie McDonald in the October decision.

In her defence, Kaur argued she had a car accident and as a result did not attend the minimum number of classes and withdrew from a semester at Canadian College — though she was unable to produce an accident report or a witness statement.

The court concluded “Kaur’s absences alone are sufficient to demonstrate that she did not comply with the … requirement that she actively pursue her studies.”

While the internal government report offers a rare glimpse of the extent of potential violations by international students, the numbers don’t explain the reasons behind the rule-breaking, said Amira El Masri, an expert on international education policies at York University.

“I would love to know more about those non-compliant cases. Where do they come from? Which institutions? Is it colleges? Is it universities? Is it private (institutions)? Is it public? This would shed some lights and would steer policies one way or another,” said El Masri.

“We have a huge body of international students. They contribute a lot to our teaching and learning in the classroom. There are a few non-compliant cases. When we introduce any new policy, we need to make sure we don’t complicate life for everybody in the process.”

In 2018, immigration officials randomly selected 1,050 of the non-compliant cases reported by schools across Canada for further investigation, but the outcomes were redacted in the report obtained by the Star.

It’s up to the provinces to accredit schools to accept international students and the schools must in turn meet standards and monitor student enrolment. In Ontario, the list of recognized schools has grown from 298 in 2014 to 420 in 2019.

The provinces are also responsible for the enforcement of labour laws, which also cover international students whose study permits allow them to work off-campus for up to 20 hours a week and stay on postgraduate work permits that are good for one to three years.

The issue of international students breaching employment restrictions was raised by immigration officials in a 2015 report that found many of them enrolled in Canadian schools because of the easy access to jobs. Many end up in low-skilled work.

“Some educational institutions in Canada offer low-quality education programs with minimal entry requirements and adjust their programs to allow international students to maximize the duration of their postgraduate work permit,” said the report.

“The current program design … increases the motivation to create low-quality education programs facilitating long-term work opportunities.”

Being caught for breaking rules has dire consequences with students losing their permits and being deported.

In 2018, 5,502 study permits were revoked, up from 1,538 in 2016. In the first two months of 2019 alone, 1,048 study permits were cancelled. The Canada Border Services Agency was unable to provide the number of international students deported from Canada.

Indian international student Jobandeep Singh Sandhu, 22, paid a high price for breaking the rules. The Canadore College student worked as a long-haul truck driver and was stopped by Ontario Provincial Police for a routine inspection near Cornwall in 2017. His driver log book revealed he had worked more hours than permitted under his student permit. He was turned over to federal authorities and deported this summer.

Rahul Choudaha, an international education consultant and researcher based in Colorado, said Canada is behind the United States, Australia and the United Kingdom in implementing policies to track international students.

In the U.S., for example, the eligibility for a postgraduate work permit is tied to employment in the field of study of an international student, who can only work off-campus during school breaks.

However, he said Canada already has a “rigorous” study permit application process to screen out ineligible students at the front end — through school admissions and scrutiny by overseas visa officers.

“The goal of these mechanisms is to ensure the integrity of the system, but it is also important for Canada to attract and retain these international students,” said Choudaha. “There are always those who try to game the system, but you don’t want the 90 per cent of genuine students being affected.”

Source: Thousands of international students cited in government report for breaking rules

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