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Border agents are sending taxpayers a $16 million bill for temporarily holding deportees in jails, figures show. Costs include “compassionate detention conditions” like daily access to doctors, nurses and psychologists.

“The Agency will need up to $82.2 million over five years to retrofit and temporarily operate the designated immigrant stations,” the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) wrote the Senate National Finance Committee. According to Blacklock’s Reporter, the temporary accommodation program is to expire in 2029.

“The Agency remains committed to improving detainee well-being by ensuring safe, secure and compassionate detention conditions with improved access to essential medical and mental health services,” reads the federal report, Supplementary Estimates (A). It did not identify which jails the agency refitted to shelter deportees.

Carl Desmarais, CBSA director-general, earlier told the National Post they would undergo renovations at their facility in Laval to install 48 beds for “high-risk” migrants. 

The taxpayer bill was not disclosed, he said. There are plans for similar renovations to detention centres in Toronto and Surrey.

"we have information that Mexican cartels are in Canada and are operating, we don't know if they're behind all of the human smuggling operations."

RCMP answers my questions about the criminal groups that are operating smuggling illegal immigrants across the border into Canada.… pic.twitter.com/7sNINpMRfY

— Alexandra Lavoie (@ThevoiceAlexa) September 25, 2023

Detainees with a “high risk” designation pose a viable threat to the public if released — including some asylum seekers and illegal immigrants. The threat is too great for CBSA officials to contain without proper infrastructure, according to its website.

The Corrections And Conditional Release Act allows the designation of any cell block as a “designated immigration station as a temporary measure,” said Supplementary Estimates (A). “This allows the Agency to manage public safety risks in cases that could not be managed through other means,” it added.

“Each immigration holding centre offers expanded services through dedicated professional medical staff, i.e. doctor, nurse, psychiatrist and psychologist available to provide on-site health services seven days a week,” wrote department staff.

As of last August 25, CBSA held 169 inmates across the aforementioned immigration centres for low-medium risk offenders. 

Provincial prisons in Alberta and B.C. held 61 “high-risk” offenders, some of whom were subject to a deportation order at the time.

According to the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA), 37,326 foreigners currently reside in the country that may pose a flight risk or a danger to the public. Of that, 33,032 people face deportation.https://t.co/EfjtVqI6km

— Rebel News (@RebelNewsOnline) August 30, 2023

Official figures counted 1,662 foreigners in custody last year. The deportees were deemed a “danger to the public” or “unlikely to appear” at a scheduled deportation hearing. Typical detention periods averaged 16 days, reported Blacklock’s Reporter.

A total of 28,145 foreign fugitives were wanted by the Agency but remained at large last year including 646 known criminals detailed figures disclosed in an Inquiry Of Ministry tabled April 3 in the Commons.

A 2021 report by Auditor General Karen Hogan criticized the $34 million enforcement program as “haphazard,” estimating that CBSA lost track of thousands of deportees with criminal records.

At least 70% of criminal cases are not reviewed annually and lapse, according to the report, Immigration Removals. “Periods of inactivity in the cases we examined averaged four years,” wrote analysts.

The Canada Border Services Agency admitted it had 29,248 foreign fugitives at large in the department's "wanted inventory" while deportees totalled 10,041.

MORE: https://t.co/bf8OemAdmI pic.twitter.com/bwBPaLWVSp

— Rebel News Canada (@RebelNews_CA) October 22, 2023

CBSA pledged to ramp up deportation efforts as 8,723 of the 13,605 foreigners who received a deportation order since 2016 remain in Canada, as reported by Blacklock’s. More than half of foreigners ordered out of the country remained in Canada, figures showed.

A CBSA memo, President Transition 2022, urged additional enforcement of deportation orders, especially for cases involving “national security, organized crime, human rights violations and criminality.”

“They are mostly public safety related,” Immigration Minister Marc Miller told reporters April 30. “Frankly there are people who are not entitled to be in this country,” he added. “They have received due process upon due process.”

Border agents ordered 2,002 foreigners to leave Canada in 2022. Although 373 left voluntarily and another 386 left after enforcement by officials, a whopping 1,057 foreigners (53%) remained.