Hundreds of international students from India may face deportation

A Vancouver-area MP says hundreds of international students from India are facing possible deportation, and she’s asking the federal government to intervene.

Balbir Singh says he’s hoping the federal government will let him stay in Canada, the Surrey man says he’s among those facing deportation after being allegedly defrauded by an immigration agent in India who created fake admission documents.

“We have spent half a decade here and this is not justice for us. We didn’t do any fraud we didn’t do anything wrong.”

An organizer with Migrant Workers Alliance for Change says Singh is one of hundreds of current and former international students facing possible deportation after falling victim to the scam. Sarom Rho explains these students are being punished for reasons out of their control.

“We are calling on Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino to stop all the deportations, and Immigration Minister Sean Fraser to ensure permanent resident status so that these students have the ability to protect themselves and have the same rights as everybody else,” she said.

Rho says she wants the federal government to stop the deportations and grant the students permanent residency.

“Every day of delay means more stress, more crisis, more exploitation, and more abuse”

In a statement, Canada Border Services Agency says, in part, they have a number of investigations and “persons who misrepresent themselves and/or use fraudulent documentation to seek entry to Canada or to remain in Canada are contravening the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act and risk being removed from Canada.”

Vancouver-area NDP MP Jenn Kwan says Canada needs migrant workers and deporting them would be inhumane.

“They are already here in Canada, they studied here in Canada. The government has already said they are going to look at a regularization stream and so What I am saying is include these students, don’t penalize them, they have already been through a lot,” she said.

However, Canadian Minister of Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Sean Fraser says victims of fraud will have an opportunity to demonstrate their situation and present evidence to support their case.

“The message to the government is to stop the deportation please, and have justice for all these students and give them a permanent residency status,” Singh added.