Dear Editor,
The recent arrest of migrant workers at Hasting Race Course seems rather puzzling, especially in light of the current CBSA position on illegal immigration at “irregular border crossings.”
It appears they were duped by a provincial government official, into paying excessive monies for the documentation and authority they needed to work at Hastings, specifically for doing jobs that could not be filled by Canadians due to the long hours and relatively low pay. As per the comments by their employers, these individuals are paying taxes and CPP premiums.
So CBSA, in their infinite wisdom, determines these people are criminals and makes a public arrest.
Yet, CBSA allow illegal immigrants entering Canada at irregular border crossings to enter unchallenged using a loophole allowing them to attempt to claim refugee status.
In fact Immigration and Refugee Board Canada data indicates that since March 2017, over 46,000 illegal immigrants have entered Canada, of which less than 900 have been removed. These illegal immigrants have cost the Canadian taxpayers in excess of $1.2 billion dollars.
So the somewhat heavy-handed arrest and possible expulsion for this particular group of Hasting workers seems rather inequitable.
I would prefer to see my tax dollars at work enforcing border security from incursions by true criminals, illicit opioids, money laundering and sundry other threats to Canada, as opposed to harassing well intentioned, but naive workers, who fell prey to a corrupt official of a government enforcement agency.
Michael Brown, Brookswood