CBSA reveals over 10,000 deportation orders active for longer than a year
New data released by the Canada Border Services Agency shows that just over 10,000 individuals on the agency’s “wanted list” have been at large for longer than a year.
New data released by the Canada Border Services Agency shows that just over 10,000 individuals on the agency’s “wanted list” have been at large for longer than a year.
In response to an order question paper submitted by Conservative immigration critic Michelle Rempel Garner, the CBSA revealed it had 10,051 warrants for individuals ordered to be deported, active for over a year, with as many as 473 individuals wanted since 2016.
Last month, Erin O’Gorman, the president of the CBSA, revealed during an immigration committee meeting that the agency was “actively engaging” at least 30,000 individuals for deportation. At the same time, an additional 32,000 illegal immigrants were unaccounted for with active warrants.
In response to Rempel Garner’s question, the CBSA added a chart showing that the agency has “closed” over 10,000 warrants as of 2016, either by executing them or cancelling them.
Despite the backlog, CBSA officials have lauded the organization’s progress this year as having deported record-breaking numbers. According to the CBSA’s website, last updated on Oct. 31, 2025, 18,785 individuals had been removed from Canada so far in 2025.
Of those deported this year up to the end of October, 734 removal orders were enforced due to “criminality,” 117 were deported for “transborder criminality,” 79 were removed in connection with “organized crime.” By far the most common inadmissibility type that led to deportation was “non-compliant refugee claimants,” of which 15,605 were removed from Canada.
At the same time, CBSA reported having to escort 1,408 out of the country, saying those who refuse to leave on their own make up just 10 per cent of removal cases. As of the end of October, 25,330 were marked as individuals whose removal was “not possible.”
The CBSA said those marked as impossible to remove include “but are not limited to” pending Federal Court appeals, criminal charges, sentences of imprisonment, or Pre-Removal Risk Assessments, where migrants can request a review of whether it is humane to send them back to their country of origin.
In October, immigration lawyer Sergio Karas recommended that the federal government adopt sweeping reforms to the immigration system, including introducing a mechanism that would allow the government to bypass tribunals and the appeal courts, which enables convicted criminals to remain in Canada for years after being ordered to leave.
In a previous True North article, Karas noted it has sometimes taken decades to deport even convicted terrorists from Canada.