By Rebel News | Created at 2024-11-26 23:06:32 | Updated at 2024-11-29 12:58:32
2 days ago
A record number of refugee claims have been filed in Canada, costing taxpayers billions of dollars to feed, clothe and accommodate them.
Paying for the more than 200,000 asylum claimants will cost taxpayers $16.35 billion a year, revealed Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada data.
Conservative MP Arpan Khanna questioned officials during a recent committee hearing at the House of Commons, reported True North.
Testimony from Roula Eatrides, deputy chair of the refugee protection division at the Immigration Refugee Board, said a single claim takes upwards of 14 months to be processed, and a decision rendered.
“About 70% of our inventory is about a year old, or less than a year,” according to Eatrides.
The division was funded to process 60,000 cases annually, resulting in 44-month wait times, which is a new record for Canada under the Trudeau administration.
MP Khanna notes that bogus claimants can now freeload off taxpayers for 44 months, instead of 14.
“An average refugee costs taxpayers $82,000 per refugee per year,” said Khanna. Asylum seekers receive $81,760 per person annually in legal assistance, housing, food and medical care, which averages out to $11,260 more than the typical Canadian salary.
The MP then pivoted to blame Immigration Minister Marc Miller for causing this unprecedented immigration crisis.
“Marc Miller himself acknowledges that most of these cases are likely going to be fake asylum claims for folks whose statuses are expiring but want to stay in this country,” said Khanna.
On Monday, Miller told reporters that some 4.9 million people, whose visas are set to expire between September and next December, are expected to voluntarily leave, reported Blacklock’s.
“The vast majority leave,” he testified before the immigration committee. “In some cases, increasingly many, I would concede, people decide to choose they are in a situation of irregularity.”
The briefing note, Undocumented Migrants, estimates as many as 500,000 people reside in Canada without status, including illegal immigrants and others who exhausted their appeals. “An undocumented migrant is an individual who has no authorization to reside and/or work in Canada,” said the note.
Minister Miller previously minimized the impact illegal immigration has on Canadian taxpayers. “Geographically it’s difficult to reach Canada,” he said then.
In a March 27 interview, the minister relegated illegal immigration to a minor issue. “Canada prides itself on the value of our differences and the diversity,” he said at the time.
It was first revealed that Canadian taxpayers paid $224 per day to accommodate illegal asylum claimants, equating to the above-mentioned $81,760 a year — ten times more than Old Age Security pays recipients.
The typical hotel stay for illegal immigrants amounts to $140 per day, with food costing $84, reported Blacklock’s.
The Budget Office in a 2018 report, Costing Irregular Migration Across Canada’s Southern Border, said federal expenses averaged $14,321 per illegal immigrant. Costs were as high as $33,700, it said.
Immigration Minister Marc Miller previously told reporters that some foreigners also exploit the generosity of Canadians with bogus refugee claims, remarks he reiterated in a statement to the Globe and Mail.
Miller also said the immigration system was “out of control,” owing to an unsustainable number of temporary foreign workers and international students residing in Canada.
The Department of Immigration counted 1,073,435 foreign students in Canada, as of May 3. By the end of 2023, Statistics Canada reported 2.6 million temporary residents in the country.
“The refugee program was never supposed to be a backdoor entry into our country to get a work permit,” Khanna said. “It was supposed to be there to help those that were fleeing persecution, that had an act of war in their country of origin, and that wanted to save their lives.”.
Yet 13,660 asylum claims were filed this year, through September 30, by international students — thousands more than all of 2023.
“They’re allowed to get a job, they’re allowed to get health care. They’re allowed to stay in our country,” Khanna added.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau blamed “bad actors” for the surge, rather than accept responsibility for opening the country’s borders.
“He blames bad actors for immigration problems. No, he is the bad actor,” said Khanna. “This is classic Trudeau: he creates a problem, then he says he should have solved it sooner.”
The Trudeau government has since capped new study permits, though concerns remain as foreign students can work full-time hours during academic breaks — something Minister Miller acknowledged takes jobs away from Canadians.
The Department of Immigration plans to reduce temporary resident numbers from 6.5% of the total Canadian population to 5% over the next three years. Their numbers exploded to 7.3% earlier this year.
Alex Dhaliwal
Calgary Based Journalist
Alex Dhaliwal is a Political Science graduate from the University of Calgary. He has actively written on relevant Canadian issues with several prominent interviews under his belt.
