Question Period Note: Removals

o Enforcing removal of people who do not have the right to stay in Canada.

 The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) removed over 18,000 inadmissible people last fiscal year—the highest in a decade and an increase from approximately 16,000 the year before.

 The Border Plan provided $55.5M to support immigration and asylum processing and to increase CBSA’s capacity to reach 20,000 removals for fiscal years 2025-26 and 2026-27.

 Budget 2025, and the Border Plan, puts Canada’s safety at the forefront by hiring 1,000 new CBSA officers, some of which will be dedicated to removals.

 The CBSA is already well on its way to meet this objective having already enforced nearly 14,000 removals since April 1, 2025.

 Removing individuals inadmissible to Canada for reasons of security and criminality is a priority for the CBSA who removed over 700 such individuals since April 1, 2025, a 20 per cent increase over last year.

o The process for determining inadmissibility begins with the issuance of a 44 report that outlines the inadmissibility and referral of the report to an authorized decision-maker. Depending on the inadmissibility ground and status of the individual, a Minister’s Delegate may issue a removal order or the case may be referred to the Immigration Division at the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (IRB) for an admissibility hearing.
o The removal of foreign nationals that are found inadmissible as per the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA) is an integral part of the CBSA’s security mandate. Individuals may be inadmissible for a variety of reasons including security; criminality; organized crime, international human rights violation, non-compliance with the IRPA, etc..
o The CBSA prioritizes removals based on a risk management regime that assigns the highest priority to cases involving security, organized crime, crimes against humanity, and criminality. These are followed by failed refugee claimants as second tier, and all other inadmissible persons as the lowest priority.
o All individuals who are subject to enforcement action and ordered to be removed from Canada have access to due process before the law. They may seek redress through various processes at the IRB (appeals), the Federal Court of Canada (judicial review) and if eligible, at Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (pre-removal risk assessment if they feel they may be subject to persecution in their country of origin, and humanitarian and compassionate applications for permanent residence). Please note that there are legislated factors that allow or deny access to some of these processes.
o The CBSA’s removal efforts may be hindered and delayed by impediments such as uncooperative foreign nationals who do not provide necessary information or documentation to allow for their removal, or foreign governments that refuse the return of their nationals, or fail to promptly issue timely travel documents. The CBSA works closely with foreign governments, Canadian officials abroad, and other departments to resolve these challenges, and participates in international forums to identify joint strategies and best practices to achieve timely removals of inadmissible persons.
o The CBSA has an inventory of high-risk individuals, including those with serious criminality, whose whereabouts are unknown and Canada-wide immigration warrants have been issued for their arrest.
o A Wanted by the CBSA web page was launched in 2011 and remained active until 2023, during which a total of 159 individuals were featured on the webpage. Some of these individuals were located and arrested as a result of tips received from the public.
o Public posting of certain immigration warrants for removal was used as a last resort by CBSA in order to locate individuals with serious inadmissibility concerns (for example, serious criminality involving violence). The web page was removed in 2023 because investigative tools and methods had evolved, making it no longer necessary for operations.
o The Fall Economic Statement (FES) provided $55.5 million over three years to the CBSA to support front-end immigration and asylum processing activities, and achieve a 25% increase in the number of removals enforced. This includes reducing inventory backlogs, increasing removal capacity and addressing the anticipated increase in associated removals litigation. The funding will primarily be used to secure regional staff and ensure the program has necessary resources to achieve 20,000 removals in FY2025-26 and FY2026-27.
o In response to the significant increase in individuals making asylum claims in Canada, the CBSA aligned its resources to enforce removal orders in a more efficient and timely manner. A Removals Action Plan has also been developed to further enhance program delivery and address outstanding issues, including prioritizing cases to overcome impediments to removal, leveraging existing resources more efficiently, and engaging priority countries to expedite removal processes.
o Canada Border Services Agency conducts extensive investigations to locate individuals wanted for removal who have criminal records pursuant to the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA). This generally includes offences that may range in severity to non-violent crimes such as fraud over $5000 to more serious offences, such as assault causing bodily harm.
o Foreign nationals facing removal may include those who are still serving a criminal sentence or have pending criminal charges. Until the criminal matters are resolved, they cannot be removed. CBSA may issue a warrant for arrest, to ensure that CBSA is notified following the completion of their criminal custody.
o The wanted inventory is updated daily, as individuals are located and consequently removed, while new cases are added as the CBSA works through its removals inventory. However, the inventory reflects a cumulative total cases over many years.
o It is important to note that Canada’s immigration system does not allow for the proactive arrest and detention of every person subject to enforcement action. The IRPA contains provisions for the CBSA to arrest and detain those who pose a danger to the public and/or who are unlikely to appear for an immigration process. Often, persons subject to immigration enforcement are cooperative until they have exhausted all appeal mechanisms and then fail to report. As well, in many cases, foreign nationals who left Canada without confirming their departure remain in the wanted inventory until sufficient information is obtained through a case by case examination of exit data and information gathered from other sources.
o Over the last two fiscal years (2023-24 / 2024-25), approximately 4000 individuals entered CBSA’s wanted for removal inventory. During that same period, the Agency 34,500 people were removed from Canada.
o As of November 2025, there are over 30,000 individuals in the CBSA’s removal-in-progress inventory, which is more than double that of five years ago, due to a cumulative growth in failed refugee claims.
o Please find below removals enforced by fiscal year:
Removals Enforced
FY2020-21 11,262
FY2021-22 7,530
FY2022-23 10,240
FY2023-24 16,343
FY2024-25 18,048

If Pressed – Immigration Warrants
 CBSA arrests, detains and removes foreign nationals who should not be in the country and who pose a security threat to the public.

 When an inadmissible foreign national does not report for removal, CBSA will initiate an investigation and issue a warrant.

 Immigration warrants are sent to the Canadian Police Information Centre so that local police may notify CBSA if they encounter an individual subject to an immigration warrant.

 Over 550 CBSA personnel are dedicated to immigration investigations and removals. They are focused on cases that pose a risk to security and public safety.

 CBSA also has a tip line for the public to share information about
the whereabouts of those who are trying to evade the law.

 Last year, CBSA closed 542 immigration warrants involving inadmissible individuals with criminal convictions and 254 so far this year. They also removed 905 individuals inadmissible for criminality, organized criminality and security.

 Individuals subject to immigration warrants include cases of people that are presently serving a criminal sentence who’s whereabouts are known. Warrants are issued to ensure that CBSA is notified upon completion of their criminal sentence.