Toronto: India has raised concerns multiple times with Ottawa over human trafficking of its nationals from Canada into the United States ever since the tragic death of four members of a family in Manitoba in January 2022.
Two persons familiar with the discussions confirmed to the Hindustan Times that the matter was flagged to Canada since 2022 and as recently as last year. The problems with the human smuggling networks working to take immigrants illegally into the United States were discussed “several times”, one of them said.
The Canadian government appeared to acknowledge those talks. Responding to queries from the Hindustan Times, a spokesperson for Global Affairs Canada, the country’s foreign ministry, said, “Given the vast people-to-people ties between our countries, Canada and India have regular dialogue on matters including migration as well as the safety and well-being of our citizens abroad.”
“Canada continues to stand ready to work with Indian authorities in their efforts to counter fraud and criminality,” she added.
India’s Enforcement Directorate (ED), in a statement on December 24, said officers from its Ahmedabad office “conducted search operations” on December 10 and December 19 at eight locations in Mumbai, Nagpur, Gandhinagar and Vadodara as part of the ongoing probe in the case of Bhavesh Ashokbhai Patel and others” with the purpose of “for hatching a well-planned conspiracy, to send the victims/persons to USA through Canada via illegal channel thereby committing the offence of human trafficking”.
It also alleged Canadian institutions had colluded in the operations, as it said, “It is further revealed that around 112 colleges based in Canada have entered into agreement with one entity and more than 150 with another entity. Their involvement in the instant case is under investigation”.
In December, a spokesperson for Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) said, in an email, “Indian nationals were the largest cohort of illegal entries into the US, and that number has also decreased significantly thanks to our quick action.
“As soon as we learned of this abuse of our system, including the impact to our shared border with the US, we took action. Our swift actions have resulted in an 84% decrease in illegal crossings into the US from Canadian permit/visa holders since June 2024. They have also resulted in 61% more refusals for countries in which we have been noting the highest levels of abuse,” he added.
According to the latest data of encounters at the northern border from the US Customs and Border Patrol, in October and November last year, the total stood at 27,610, including 7,113 Indian nationals or over 25% of the total.
The ED investigation was precipitated by the death of four members of the Patel family in Manitoba on January 19, 2022, as they waited to be transported into America in several winter conditions.
“The 2022 case that is the focus of the Enforcement Directorate’s investigation is a tragedy — the type of which both India and Canada are committed to preventing from happening again,” the Global Affairs spokesperson noted.
“Addressing irregular migration is a priority for Canada. Canada also works collaboratively with the US and international partners on issues of visa integrity, border management and safe and orderly migration,” the IRCC spokesperson said. IRCC has seen an increase in exploitation of its temporary resident visas, including students. “What was once a low-risk temporary resident programme is now being assessed as higher-risk given changes to the global migration context, including the growing number of conflicts and crises, increased abuse and fraud, and increased organised smuggling,” the spokesperson added.
US President-elect Donald Trump’s has threatened if Ottawa does not curb the flow of illegal immigrants into America, his administration will impose a 25% tariff on imports from Canada, making action in that regard a priority for Canada.
