Deportations from Canada have increased more than fifty percent over the last decade; in 2009 alone more than 13,000 people were removed. And as the numbers continue to rise, US-style raids and detentions are becoming common practice for the CBSA (Canadian Border Services Agency).
The bureaucratic avenues to challenge deportation orders are full of structural problems. Over 97% of Pre-Removal Risk Assessment (PRRA) decisions, the next-to-last step before a deportation, are rejected. And, individuals and families can be removed while awaiting Humanitarian and Compassionate grounds application (a procedure which is expensive to undertake in the first place).
Deportations separate people from the families, friends and lives that they have established in Canada. While capital, corporations and privileged “first world” nationals travel freely wherever they want, migrants from the majority world are illegalized, criminalized and prevented from exercising their fundamental rights. They simply cease to be people; they become ‘illegal immigrants’, ‘non-status’, ‘undocumented’ and ‘failed asylum seekers’. When their exploited labor is no longer needed or when they stand up for their rights, they become disposable. Common struggles and entire communities are divided and rendered invisible, giving way to a culture of suspicion, surveillance and repression.
We stand in solidarity with those who struggle to resist their deportations and forced removals. We believe that everyone has the right to migrate, the right to resist forced displacement, and the right return to their homelands if they so choose.