Only five deported in 350 B.C. extortions cases; feds won’t say who
The federal government says it has deported only five foreigners out of 350 cases as part of its multi-agency investigation into an extortion crime wave targeting business owners in British Columbia.
The federal government says it has deported only five foreigners out of 350 cases as part of its multi-agency investigation into an extortion crime wave targeting business owners in British Columbia, with authorities also declining to name any of the individuals who have been deported.
The RCMP-led B.C. Extortion Task Force, formed in September to combat a surge in threats and violence in the Greater Vancouver Area, has made a few arrests overall but is not publicizing details of each one to “protect the integrity and viability of the ongoing investigations,” the RCMP said in an update earlier this week.
During a “tri-lateral extortion summit” on extortions held in Surrey, which included federal Minister of Public Safety Gary Anandagasaree, B.C. Premier David Eby, and provincial Attorney General Niki Sharma among others, Anandagasaree offered a slightly different explanation for the non-disclosure decision.
The federal Minister said that the names are not being released due to “privacy concerns,” adding that the issue is something “CBSA is looking into.”
CBSA’s Pacific Region Immigration Enforcement unit, a key partner in the task force, has now launched new investigations into 96 foreign nationals who may be inadmissible under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, up from 78 reported earlier in November.
According to other comments from Anandagasaree this week, there were originally 350 cases referred to them as part of the investigations into extortion specifically.
He said that list has been whittled down to 95 cases including the five deportees — but that represents only a tiny slice of a much larger pie.
On Tuesday, CBSA president Erin O’Gorman admitted to a parliamentary committee that Ottawa has lost track of a staggering 33,000 immigrants who are currently seeking to evade an order to leave the country.
“We’re constantly scooping water out of that bathtub,” Aaron McCrorie, VP of Intelligence and Enforcement at the CBSA, added. “But the bathtub is filling up as well.”