OTTAWA—The fate of thousands of temporary foreign workers facing deportation beginning April 1 emerged as a high-stakes national issue, with small business urging Ottawa to let them stay and the federal government threatening to track down any who try to go underground.

Many low-skilled people who came to Canada under the Temporary Foreign Worker Program are expected to leave the country beginning Wednesday as a result of a clampdown by the Conservative government. Estimates of the exodus run into the tens of thousands but Ottawa won’t provide details.

As the rule of the four-year ban of re-entry rolled in Wednesday, the federal government warned temporary foreign workers who are due to leave that they will be dealt with swiftly if they try to go underground to avoid leaving Canada.

“Let there be no mistake: We will not tolerate people going ‘underground.’ Flouting our immigration laws is not an option, and we will deal with offenders swiftly and fairly,” Immigration Minister Chris Alexander and Employment Minister Pierre Poilievre said in a statement.

The low-skilled workers are losing their work permits under a policy introduced on April 1, 2011 that requires any temporary foreign workers who have been here for four years to leave. They are also barred from returning for four years under the “4-in-4-out” rule.

As many as 70,000 workers now in the country will have to leave, according to the Migrant Workers Alliance for Change, which projected the estimates based on the number of work permits issued four years ago and foreign workers who had already been working in Canada before then.

The Alliance points out that some of these workers may be in their first year of employment and have as many as three more years before having to leave.

The clampdown has prompted widespread complaints of unfairness and future chaos in business.

Thai worker Somsha Chanchai’s work permit expired Wednesday and he will be boarding a flight back to Bangkok on Sunday.

“The decision to ban us from working in Canada is unjust and unfair. I have put food on the table of Canadians for so many years. Why would you create laws that penalize us?” said the 46-year-old father of two boys.

Chanchai, who paid $10,000 to a recruitment agency to come to Canada, said he is the sole provider for his family, his parents and other extended family members, and expects he will be unemployed for the next four years.

Some organizations have called for a temporary moratorium on the intake of foreign workers from abroad and a path to permanent residency for those, including the ones in low-skill and low-wage category, who are already here.

“Given that extensions have been announced for some 1,000 temporary foreign workers (TFW) who had applied for permanent status before July 1, 2014, it is prudent now for the federal government to extend this reprieve to all TFWs facing the four-year rule,” said Victor Wong of the Chinese Canadian National Council.

“This transition period would allow TFWs to complete their assignments in Canada and return home, and allow those who wish to apply for permanent residency to do so in an orderly fashion.”

Chris Ramsaroop of the Justicia for Migrant Workers said, “Today’s decision to deport tens of thousands of migrant workers represents one of the most inhumane actions undertaken by the Conservative government during its years in power.

“Rather than provide permanent residency and the opportunity to continue to build our communities, the government has chosen to repeat the mistakes of the past by following what previous generations of elected officials have done: demonize, criminalize and dehumanize the same racilized migrant workers who have built our railways and built the wealth of this nation,” he told the Star.

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In their statement, Alexander and Poilievre said, “Employers and foreign workers have known about the four-year time limit since 2011, when this policy was announced.

“Employers have had four years to find alternative employees. Similarly, temporary foreign workers have had four years to pursue pathways to permanent residence.” The government urged foreign workers to apply for permanent status.

However, many immigrant support groups say that low-skilled foreign workers will not qualify to stay under existing programs.

“This is yet another example of a government that lacks compassion and a flexible reasonableness around supporting both Canadian businesses and industries and some very vulnerable people,” said Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau.