Asylum seekers arrive at the temporary housing facilities at the border crossing in St. Bernard-de-Lacolle, Que., in May 2018. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ryan Remiorz

New data released from four major players in Canada’s immigration system show the government has spent at least $215 million on irregular migrants since 2017.

The series of reports from the Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA), RCMP, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) and the Immigration and Refugee Board — the body that overseas refugee claims — was requested by Conservative immigration critic Michelle Rempel and NDP critic Jenny Kwan during a six-hour marathon of emergency immigration committee meetings on July 24.

The committee reconvened during the summer to study the impact of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s management of the influx of irregular migrants coming from the United States and to figure out what to do with 545 irregular migrants who faced eviction from Toronto college dorms on August 9.

The CBSA’s report for the Parliament Budgetary Office shows the agency spent just over $54.5 million between April 2017 and June of this year on irregular migrants. The bulk of that came from an increase in personnel at the border, which cost the agency $22.5 million.

The department itself will spend over $117 million by the end of 2019. The biggest increase is in professional and special services excluding health, which is projected to cost the federal government over $30 million dollars this year.

IRCC said it does not have sufficient data to measure how much irregular migration cost the Canadian government between 2002-2016 because the levels were “insignificant.” The organization started tracking data in April 2017 when the migrations started to spike.

Canada saw more than 18,000 irregular migrants in 2017, most of them coming in the last five months of the year. In the first seven months this year, the RCMP has intercepted 11,420 people at the southern border.

The IRCC report also said the federal government cannot give projections on the influx of irregular migrants for the next five years as there are a number of external factors that influence the trend of migration to and from specific countries.

“The situations are fluid and unpredictable,” a spokesperson for border security minister Bill Blair told iPolitics in a statement. “The funds allocated to manage the situation may not end up being used if fewer come.”

However, the IRB believes it will receive 20,000 irregular refugee claims in both 2019 and 2020. It will process just under half of these at an estimated cost of $5,326 per claim or $42 million this year, and $3,446 per claim or $31 million overall in 2019. These costs, the board disclosed in its report, are covered by its most recent budget.

Figures released by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada show that irregular migration to Canada has decreased substantially since those levels seen in 2017, with RCMP intercepting 1,263 people at the border in June — down from 1,869 in May. The government attributes this decline in part to the six-point plan the government put in place. That includes outreach efforts to foreign nationals from at-risk countries to educate them about how to use the official migration channels to Canada.

The RCMP spent $7.3 million on irregular migrants, with most of the money being spent in the first three months of 2018. In its report, the force said its funding comes from the 2018 budget section dedicated to regulating and managing the border based on projections made by the IRCC. The funds cover incremental costs for overtime, travel, accommodation and employment benefit plans for RCMP officers deployed to the border.

The Conservative Party says the total bill adds up to $270 million dollars, with most of it being paid for by Canadians in 2018. However, when iPolitics crunched the numbers, the tally came to just over $215 million without any added estimated costs.

The bill jumps up another $73 million with the IRB’s estimated costs from 2018-2019, which comes to a total bill of just under $290 million.

Rempel said she waited two years for the new information, and said the prime minister “has only made the situation worse (by) failing to take action” at the border.

“Provinces and municipalities will continue to bear the brunt of these costs until the Trudeau government is able to present a fully-costed plan to deal with the situation at our borders,” she said in a statement.

The Conservatives say some costs are still a mystery, including the housing of migrants, deportation of those with claims that do not meet the standards of a Convention refugee under Canada’s government protection as well as the amount of social services provided to irregular migrants.

The documents also reveal that CBSA officials have noticed a new tactic being employed by border crossers. The officials note some refugee claimants who have crossed into Canada irregularly are now acting as ‘anchor relatives’ for family members.

This allows their spouses, children, siblings, legal guardians, grandparents, aunts and uncles and nieces and nephews to cross at an official border entry and not be considered irregular migrants.

Rempel notes government did not provide any costing information or further data on the number of people who have taken advantage of this loophole.

With files from the Canadian Press

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