Hundreds of international students in Canada are spared from deportation after protests against fraudulent admission letters; government creates task force to investigate cases. Activists and community supporters rally behind the students, calling for accountability in the immigration system.
The federal government of Canada has decided to halt the deportation of more than 700 international students who were found to possess fraudulent letters of admission to Canadian post-secondary institutions. The move comes after protests erupted in the Greater Toronto Area following the issuance of deportation letters by the Canadian Border Security Agency to students from India who were victims of a college admission scam.
Demonstrations took place across the GTA, including one at the CBSA’s headquarters, where deportation orders were being processed. The protesters raised concerns about the Canadian immigration system’s vulnerabilities that allowed fake admission letters to go undetected for years.
The long overdue detection of fraudulent admission letters blindsided foreign students. For instance, a former student named Raman Brar arrived in Canada on a study permit in 2018, received a work permit in 2020, and spent substantial tuition fees before being informed about her fraudulent study permit.
Protesters received significant community support during their demonstrations. Community members provided food, blankets, mattresses, and tarps to support the 16 students from Punjab, India, who lived in the parking lot during the protest. Well-known activist and poet Rupi Kaur also expressed her solidarity with the international students’ cause, drawing from her own family’s experiences as refugees.
In response to the protests, Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada Minister Sean Fraser announced the creation of a task force to investigate individual cases where students received fraudulent acceptance letters. The focus of the government, Fraser clarified, is on identifying the culprits responsible for the fraudulent activity rather than penalizing the affected students. Students facing deportation orders will be granted an eight-week temporary resident permit, allowing them to remain in the country while their cases are being reviewed.
The University of Toronto stated that they do not engage with third-party agents for student recruitment, and they have not identified any students with fraudulent admission documents or facing deportation. As fraudulent letters were often obtained through third-party agents, it is challenging for the university to know about such cases.
