Opinion: Oh, Canada: immigration edition
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What would the U.S. do if this happened here? AFP reports:
Authorities have lost track of 41,000 people ordered to leave Canada, and in most cases have stopped looking for them, said a federal watchdog Tuesday. In a scathing report, Auditor General Sheila Fraser said most of the missing were failed asylum seekers allowed into the country on temporary permits while their immigration or refugee cases were assessed. However, some of them ‘may pose a threat to public safety and security,’ she added.
Oh, wait -- it did happen here.
A Homeland Security Inspector General report (pdf) released last year said that the backlog of immigration cases involving immigrants ordered to leave the U.S. had reached 600,000 -- and the whereabouts of many of those, whether criminal offenders or non-criminal deportees, couldn’t be determined. It’s important to note that this number represents the backlog, not the number of people missing, as in Canada.
The report put the blame for the backlog, which had been increasing since 2001, on insufficient detention space and systems, along with inadequate staffing. (This focuses on ICE rather than CIS, so it doesn’t take into account the long lines legal immigrants face to get in or change their status if they’re already here.)
There hasn’t been an internal assessment of where the ‘fugitive’ backlog stands more recently. And though Homeland Security has received more beds and staff, it has also stepped up its enforcement efforts, so the backlog may very well still be rising, if at a slower pace.
The Canada case gives occasion to recall that this country’s ad-hoc enforcement-first approach doesn’t necessarily work as smoothly as advocates hope. And, as the editorial board would argue, it isn’t the best approach for the country even when it works as intended.