Alleged head of migrant smuggling ring given new Canadian passport

CBC News has learned that the Canadian government has issued a new passport to Thesingarasan Rasiah, a confessed human smuggler, after the courts revoked his original passport.

Investigators from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) discovered Rasiah’s new passport in June 2023, during a search of the latter’s Montreal home. There GRC was investigating an international human trafficking ring of which Rasiah was believed to be the alleged leader, according to court documents obtained by CBC.

At that time, Rasiah, who was wearing an electronic ankle bracelet and awaiting sentencing, was under house arrest under strict conditions. In February 2023, he pleaded guilty to violating the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act for attempting, in 2021, to illegally bring a Sri Lankan national into Cornwall, Ontario.

In the process, Rasiah had to surrender his passport to the authorities and was prohibited from applying for new travel documents.

Deadly crossings

On April 1, 2021, in Cornwall – a city located 120 km from Montreal and 4 km north of the Canadian-American border – police arrested Thesingarasan Rasiah in the parking lot of a motel.

In addition to Rasiah, an accomplice was on site: she had just brought into Canadian soil a Sri Lankan who was trying to flee the United States.

For this case, in September 2023, Rasiah was sentenced to 15 months in prison.

But last May, the GRC arrested him again. This time, he was accused of leading an international network that trafficked hundreds of human beings across the Canada-US border. He has remained detained ever since.

Additionally, the Cornwall Task Force (bringing together officers from the Ontario Provincial Police, GRC and the Canada Border Services Agency) had reason to believe that there was a link between Rasiah’s organization and the tragic drowning deaths of nine people, including eight migrants, near Akwesasne in March 2023 .

Organized passages while awaiting his sentence

A copy of a document filed in the Ontario Court of Justice shows that Thesingarasan Rasiah managed to obtain a new passport from Service Canada, less than two weeks after the bodies of the eight migrants were discovered in the St. Lawrence River.

Matthew Eamer, a retired detective sergeant with the Cornwall Task Force, investigated Rasiah’s activities for three years. He claims that the latter continued to organize the smuggling of illegal immigrants at the Canadian-American border while he was on parole and awaiting sentence for the case of the Sri Lankan migrant.

He was still active, says Matthew Eamer, despite the fact that he had been charged and placed on parole [pour traite d’êtres humains].

It’s a total failure

Conservative immigration critic MP Tom Kmiec is calling for the House of Commons Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration to hold an emergency meeting to look into the case of Thesingarasan Rasiah.

For the Conservative MP, the Minister of Immigration, Marc Miller, and those responsible for the passport service must appear before the committee to explain themselves in this matter.

The integrity of our passport system is one of the most important elements in ensuring that convicted criminals do not obtain brand new passports after their old passports are taken away.

It’s a total failuresummarizes M. Kmiec.

Open in full screen mode

How far has our national security infrastructure deteriorated if we cannot even spot the most basic things in our system?

Passports, the weak link in the security chain

In the opinion of Kelly Sundberg, assistant professor of criminology at Mount Royal University in Calgary, the current Canadian passport system is the weak link in the security chain.

Ms. Sundberg says the passport review process operates in silos, independent of the databases that the courts and police may share. Currently, it is up to law enforcement to take the initiative to contact Passports Canada to report an individual.

It’s a very superficial security system, and it relies heavily on an honor system.

Passports should come under the responsibility of the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA), which has access to law enforcement databases, she adds.

We need to start taking our border security seriously.

Two other passports under false names

The passport program is administered by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada. However, Employment and Social Development Canada, through Service Canada, implements this program.

CBC News also learned that Rasiah was sentenced to 52 days in jail after he was found guilty of possessing two Canadian passports that were not in his name. It was in 2008, when he had just landed at Toronto Pearson International Airport, according to information from theASFC.

Open in full screen mode

In 2017, investigators from theASFC had accused Rasiah in connection with a migrant smuggling event at the Dundee port of entry in Quebec (125 kilometers from Montreal).

He then pleaded guilty to misrepresentation under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act and was sentenced to 18 months’ suspended imprisonment.

Immigration Canada said it cannot comment specifically on Rasiah’s case due to privacy laws.

In a statement made by email to CBC News, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada said it works closely with Service Canada and law enforcement to gather information regarding passport surrender orders.

When we are made aware, by our law enforcement partners, that an applicant has falsified or altered their passport application, the file is subject to review.

The GRC declined to comment, saying she was aware Immigration Canada would respond to CBC’s questions.

Open in full screen mode

Out of pure greed

For retired detective sergeant Matthew Eamer, profit is the main motivation for illegal migrant smugglers. They do it for the money, out of pure greed.

The Detective Sergeant made his first contact with Rasiah on the morning of April 1, 2021, in the parking lot of a Cornwall motel. The police officers had received from their American colleagues, through theASFCinformation that human trafficking was taking place.

Two cars were at the motel, one driven by Rasiah, the other by a woman who was transporting a Sri Lankan national whom she had just taken across the border.

After arresting Rasiah, Matthew Eamer questioned the Sri Lankan national, who was crying profusely. A video obtained by CBC shows this interrogation. In Tamil, through a translator, the man unpacks everything: his wife who remains in Malaysia, his fear of having to return to the United States and his desire to claim refugee status in Canada.

The man was asked for CA$7,000 by Rasiah to be able to enter Canada. As he did not have this sum, the Sri Lankan national claims that Rasiah promised him a job through which he would be able to repay him. He said to me: “You will give me small amounts…”

Detective Sergeant Eamer explains to the Sri Lankan stowaway that he cannot help him. Then, Canadian authorities sent him back to the United States.

A text by Jorge Barrera and Albert Leung, from CBC News, adapted by Anne-Marie Lecomte

Also read and watch:

With information from CBC