The Department of Immigration contends the number of foreign students seeking asylum has risen dramatically over the past five years.
Data provided to Global News found asylum applications from people on study permits rose from 2,230 in 2018, to 13,075 in 2023 with claims falling briefly in 2020 due to pandemic restrictions on immigration.
Last week on The West Block, Immigration Minister Marc Miller told host Mercedes Stephenson that the “growing number” of those claimants is “quite alarming.” before calling on post-secondary institutions to bolster screening and monitoring practices.
The Global News figures show colleges have more asylum-seeking claims than ever before, with those in Ontario seeing a stark increase. Seneca College had 45 asylum claims in 2018, a number that rose 2,400% in 2023 to 1,135 claims.
At Niagara College, this number rose from 20 to 930, over the same period.
Meanwhile, Conestoga College saw 25 asylum claims among 6,000 study permit holders in 2018. Five years later, that number has surged to 665.
The upward trend of foreign students seeking asylum visas appears to be on the rise again with 1,785 such applications, last month alone.
Miller admitted on September 18 that the generosity of Canadians was being exploited by bogus refugee claims.
Immigration Minister Marc Miller admits fake asylum seekers are abusing Canada’s generosity, “particularly given the volume of people that are looking to come to Canada. It is a privilege to come to Canada, it is not a right.”https://t.co/TXq29qhTJo pic.twitter.com/O97gjpT80p
— Rebel News (@RebelNewsOnline) September 18, 2024
At the United Nations General Assembly, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told reporters that Canada would continue to offer refugee status to those with genuine claims while attempting to combat abuse of the system.
“Our capacity to do that means we need to properly be able to identify who needs [the] most help, who is there as a true asylum seeker … Other people using the asylum path as a shortcut to gain Canadian permanent residency or citizenship is something that we need to continue to push back against,” Trudeau told reporters September 24.
Minister Miller told Global his department is reviewing the issue of asylum claims by foreign students, suggesting reform may be on the horizon, especially as the volume of people looking to come to Canada is an ongoing cause for concern. “It is a privilege to come to Canada,” he said. “It is not a right.”
PM Trudeau admits Canada has “grown at a rate far beyond” what the country can handle due to temporary foreign workers and international students.
Trudeau adds the Liberals’ 500K regular immigrants are “a part of the necessary growth of Canada.”https://t.co/vD78U4ZuZQ pic.twitter.com/DZqr5vLLdF
— Rebel News (@RebelNewsOnline) April 2, 2024
The Department of Immigration attributed growing asylum claims to increased global conflicts. “Under the law, anyone seeking asylum in Canada is entitled to fair treatment,” a department spokesperson wrote Global.
“However, there is no guarantee that a claimant will be allowed to stay in Canada. Each claim for asylum is decided individually, according to the evidence and arguments presented, and in compliance with Canadian immigration laws,” reads the written statement.
Tom Kmiec, Conservative Shadow Minister for Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada, previously told Rebel News that failed policies have “overwhelmed” our immigration system.
“It is so bad that the current Liberal Immigration Minister himself said the broken system is ‘out of control,’” Kmiec said, adding that even previous Immigration Minister Sean Fraser acknowledged that the system is a “complete mess.”
International students facing deportation demanding to remain in Canada
‘This is about essentially jumping the queue. It’s international students, it’s people on foreign work visas. It’s time to go and they don’t want to go,’ said David Menzies.https://t.co/WdozgSpLAX
— Rebel News Canada (@RebelNews_CA) September 10, 2024
Minister Miller announced in January a cap on international students at roughly 364,000 approved study permits — down 35% from 2023, although the feds still failed to contain the explosion of new study permits.
The feds handed out 216,620 international study permits in the first five months of 2024, compared to 200,205 last May.
Government of Canada data shows permit approvals through May this year are outpacing last year at the same period, with Canada now home to 2.6 million non-permanent residents.
Canada accepted a record 1,040,000 foreign students last year, according to immigration data. The number of foreign study permits issued has nearly tripled to 352,305 since 2015.