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Ottawa has lost track of nearly 33,000 immigrants who are currently trying to avoid orders to leave the country, the head of the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) told a parliamentary committee on Tuesday.
Testifying before the Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security, Erin O’Gorman pointed out that the number of individuals on what the CBSA calls its “wanted list” has remained relatively stable over the past five years, but removals of immigrants deemed inadmissible on security grounds have doubled over the same period.
“We’re constantly draining that bathtub,” said Aaron McCrory, CBSA’s vice president of intelligence and enforcement. “But the bathtub is filling up too.”
Data released by the agency last month showed that by October 31, 2025, the CBSA was working to remove around 1,500 individuals linked to criminal activities out of a total of around 30,000 people.
Aisling Bondy, president of the Canadian Association of Refugee Lawyers, said that for non-citizens convicted of a crime, deportation is routine, but there is sometimes a “misperception” that the system is more lenient with them.
“The system is more harsh because, unlike citizens, they have to face this risk of deportation. Citizens don’t have to do that,” she tells OMNI News. “And expulsions happen regularly. People are deported regularly.”
Zero tolerance: Three in 10 favor immediate deportation for convicted non-citizens
According to a recent Leger poll conducted exclusively for OMNI News, a majority of newcomers say noncitizens convicted of crimes should be deported, 28 percent call for a zero-tolerance policy, and an equal share believe decisions should be made on a case-by-case basis.
Bondy says noncitizens convicted of a crime can appeal a removal order only in limited circumstances, but “there is no guarantee that the appeal will be accepted, and if it is, it comes with strict terms and conditions.”
She added, “Sometimes I see people who have been here for decades… and now face the possibility of being removed after conviction.”
Canada to deport nearly 19,000 people by October 31, 2025
Bondy believes that the perception that immigrants convicted of crimes receive special treatment is sometimes conflated with the perception that non-citizens break the law at higher rates.
The OMNI-Leger survey found that 82 per cent of newcomers believe Ottawa should do more to prevent conflicts coming to Canada through immigration, with support for stronger measures highest among respondents who are older, white and have been in the country for a longer period of time.
CBSA officials told MPs in committee today that in the last 12 months, 845 individuals were removed due to serious inadmissibility, and the agency is on track to deport 20,000 people by March 2026.
Using Leger’s online panel, the poll was completed between October 2 and October 15, 2025 among 1,510 respondents, all of whom were born outside Canada. No margin of error can be added to this.
This story is part of a series from OMNI News featuring data releases throughout the month.