Students’ deportation: MP writes to Canadian minister

Sukhmeet Bhasin

Bathinda, May 28

Rajya Sabha MP Vikramjit Singh Sahney has written a letter to Canadian Immigration Minister Sean Fraser on the issue of 700 Punjabi students facing deportation due to fake documents.

He has said these students were duped by a nexus of agents that created fake documents for their visa applications.

His plea

• This issue should be considered on humanitarian grounds and the Indian students should not be deported
• They should be rehabilitated at their respective workplaces in Canada
• Otherwise, it will be a major setback financially, as well as emotionally, to the victims and their families

They were taken by surprise on being issued deportation notices by the Canadian authorities at a time when many of them had completed their studies and were working there.

He has requested that the Ministry of Immigration should take up this issue on humanitarian grounds and request the Canadian government not to deport Indian students, but support rehabilitating them in Canada at their respective workplaces. Otherwise, it would be a major setback financially, as well as emotionally, to the victims and their families.

In a tweet, the MP said a thorough probe should be conducted into students being issued fake college acceptance letters by unscrupulous consultants. He said the Canada Border Services Agency should temporarily suspend deportation of affected international students until required witnesses could testify before the investigating committee.

Sean Fraser tweeted: “We are actively probing recent reports of fraudulent acceptance letters.

“To be clear, our focus is on identifying culprits, not penalising victims. Victims of fraud will have an opportunity to demonstrate their situation and present evidence to support their case.”

MP from Vancouver (East) Jenny Kwan has also raised this issue by writing a letter to Sean Fraser. She has tweeted: “Right now, students who came to Canada for university are under threat of deportation. I wrote to the minister on Thursday (May 25) calling for action to help these students who, unknowingly, received fraudulent travel documents from bad actors making money from deceit.”