CBSA empties immigration detention centre to prevent COVID-19
The CBSA confirmed that the detention centres for refugees and foreign workers without legal status have been emptied, allowing those who were detained to live in another place. This is not only to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 in detention centres but also to experiment with the reform of the immigration and refugee detention system. The detention centres mainly detain refugee applicants without identification documents, foreign workers whose work visas have expired, and illegal immigrants waiting to be deported. Between April 2019 and March 2020, 8,825 people, including 138 minors, were detained by the CBSA, of which about 2,000 were detained in provincial prisons. However, as of early November, the number of people held by the CBSA at the Laval detention centre in Quebec has dropped from 109 to 12, as have the numbers in other centres in Toronto and Surrey. In 85 percent of cases, people are detained because officials fear they won’t show up for their immigration proceedings.
#CBSA, #regugees, #detention, #Laval, #COVID_19