Canada’s border agency says it has opened 372 immigration investigations in an effort to “disrupt extortion networks” plaguing British Columbia, parts of the Prairies, and the Toronto area.
The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) began formally monitoring immigration enforcement cases potentially linked to extortion in western Canada last August before expanding its oversight to the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) in November, the agency said in a March 18 press release.
The CBSA said it is conducting multiple investigations into individuals suspected of involvement in extortion and has issued 70 removal orders on various inadmissibility grounds. Thirty-five have been enforced as of March 12.
Tory MP Michelle Rempel Garner, who serves as her party’s shadow minister for immigration, said in a statement there were more than 13,000 reported incidents of extortion in Canada in 2024, and the federal agency needs to bolster its efforts….