Kelly Sundberg, a professor at Mount Royal University, said he was not surprised to learn that Indian law enforcement agencies were investigating links between Canadian universities and a system aimed at smuggling people across the Canadian border. -American to international students.
“I am not surprised that our ridiculous honor-based immigration program is being manipulated by transnational criminals. “It doesn’t surprise me at all,” he said.
India’s Enforcement Directorate said Tuesday it had uncovered evidence of human trafficking after launching an investigation into India’s links to the deaths of Jagdish and Vaishali Patel and their two children in January 2022.
The Indian family was found frozen to death near the Manitoba-Minnesota border. An American and an Indian were convicted last month of bringing unauthorized people into the United States and profiting from them.
The Indian agency says it has evidence that an Indian national allegedly arranged the admission of people to Canadian universities in order to obtain a student visa for Canada, with the intention of then crossing the border into the United States. United without intending to study in Canada.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) said in a statement that it was aware of the Indian statement and had contacted the country’s international police liaison officer for more information on the investigation. The RCMP said it would have no further comment.
The federal government has referred any requests for comment to the RCMP.
No university identified
The allegations have not been proven in court and India has not identified the Canadian universities believed to be involved.
Colleges and Institutes Canada stressed that it had no information on the nature of the universities linked to these allegations and that it was committed to helping ensure the safety of students and the integrity of the immigration system.
Having a way to track when and how temporary residents, including international students, leave the country would reduce system vulnerabilities, Sundberg said.
“When I was an immigration officer, I saw this happening 17 or 20 years ago. So that hasn’t changed,” he said.
“What we need is for the government to enforce the laws it has in place. It must begin collecting biometric data, that is, photos and fingerprints, of every non-citizen who crosses our border and put in place a process to confirm their departure. We need to link documents to biometric data,” he argued.
Mr. Sundberg said he would be “very surprised” if reputable post-secondary institutions were part of these allegations.
He rather suspects colleges located in shopping centers. These types of schools have been at the center of Canada’s student visa reforms, with Immigration Minister Marc Miller calling them the equivalent of puppy mill diplomas.
These latest allegations come as Canada makes major changes to its immigration system, including significantly reducing the number of student visas it issues.
At an immigration committee meeting last month, Conservatives asked how Canada tracks international students when they leave the country.
At that committee hearing, Mr. Miller argued that the vast majority of people on temporary visas, including students, leave once their visas expire. He added that there was work to be done to reduce asylum claims from international students.
The issue of people entering the United States illegally has also become a thorn in the side of Canada-U.S. relations ahead of Donald Trump’s return to the presidency next month.
Donald Trump has threatened to impose high tariffs on all Canadian goods if Canada does not do more to stop illegal border crossings and the flow of illegal drugs into the United States.
— With information from Dylan Robertson
