Montreal police are still tracking undocumented immigrants

The Montreal Police Service (SPVM) is again calling the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) to check the status of migrants, according to figures obtained by La Converse.

In 2023, the SPVM made 1,061 calls to the Agency for “status determination, warrant requests and previous expulsion requests”, according to a CBSA spokesperson in an email.

While this figure marks a clear decrease in calls compared to previous years, they nevertheless undermine the confidence of people without status in the city, some experts believe.

The Toronto police department surpassed the Montreal police department for checks in 2023. But that has not always been the case. Metropolitan Ontario used the CBSA 1,330 times in 2023, while the Vancouver Police Department only called the agency 552 times.

“In Montreal, this figure was around 3,500 annual appeals in previous years,” reports Caroline Labelle, a spokesperson for the SPVM.

While this is a step in the right direction to include people without status in municipal life, the collaboration between the police and the federal agency, which has the power to order deportations or detentions, according to a professor at Concordia University, should be completely stopped.

“The first thing to do is to stop the collaboration between the municipal government and the CBSA. Yes, there is an improvement [because there are fewer calls], but the collaboration still exists,” laments Ted Rutland, a professor in the Department of Geography, Urban Planning and Environment.

Police officers have four reasons to call the Canada Border Services Agency to check a person's immigration status.

First, as part of an investigation when the safety of another person is at stake. Then, for driver's license and registration checks. Then, for an investigation of criminal offences in which the arrested person is the subject of an arrest warrant. And finally, as part of an investigation with a warrant.

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Status check fears

This collaboration with the CBSA is becoming a bit of a “police blind spot”, believes Louis-Philippe Jannard, who is one of the coordinators at the Table de Coordination des Organisations au Service des Persons Refugees and Immigrants (TCRI). His doctoral research topic also focused on the issue of the detention practices of CBSA officers.

“During one of my interviews with an agent, I was told that the SPVM was even a main partner,” he said.

The fact that migrants know that checks can be made, even under feeble pretexts, “undermines their mission to protect the public. We can think of the case when a person gets injured and needs an ambulance. Will a first responder verify a person's identity? No, but that person with no status may hesitate to call 911 for fear of being searched for their identity.”

Another concern? Detention in an immigration monitoring center. One of them is in Laval. Persons without status who are considered to be a risk according to the Canada Border Services Agency, or whose identity cannot be confirmed or who are awaiting deportation but who are worried they will not show up at the time of their removal, may be detained there.

“What is certain is that, if the person is subject to a removal order, it can lead to deportation. If the person has no status and has been in Canada for a long time and does not respect the removal order, I imagine that it is used by the Agency to lead to a detention [at the Laval center],” explains Mr. Jannard.

For his part, Ted Rutland adds that, beyond the fear caused by a status check, there is the fear of being arrested for futile reasons.

“We know that the police department stops people of color much more often for traffic stops, for example. If these racialized people are also people without status, the risk increases for them,” laments the professor.

He cites a report written last year that analyzes the overrepresentation of racialized people in police stops. According to this document, black people were 3.5 times more likely to be arrested than white people and 2.6 times more likely than people of Arab origin.

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Origin of a sanctuary city

The concept of “sanctuary city” was born in 1979 in Los Angeles, United States. It became increasingly popular in the 1980s and 1990s among our neighbors to the south, as many refugees from Guatemala and El Salvador were fleeing violence in their country.

The policy of a “sanctuary city,” although nowhere officially defined, is not to ask residents for proof of citizenship and not to report them to customs officials if they are undocumented.

“A sanctuary city basically means that, if you live in our city, you are our neighbor, you are part of our community, regardless of what the federal government does. The municipality will therefore not be concerned about your immigration status, it will treat you like a citizen,” said Mr. Rutland.

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Montreal, a sanctuary city?

Here we have to go back to 2017, when former American President Donald Trump closed the door to nationals of seven Muslim-majority countries under a presidential decree — commonly known as the “Muslim Ban”. Nationals from Iraq, Iran, Somalia, Somalia, Sudan, Sudan, Sudan, Sudan, Sudan, Yemen, Libya, and Syria were then banned from entering the United States.

It was in this context that former Montreal mayor Denis Coderre affirmed that Montreal was a “sanctuary city.” According to several people, it was only symbolic.

“The fact that there are still calls [from the SPVM to the CBSA] calls into question the name of Montreal as a sanctuary city. We cannot say that Montreal is a sanctuary city,” insists Mr. Jannard during our phone call.

In 2020, the SPVM has put in place more measures to avoid direct calls to the Canada Border Services Agency. “SPVM police officers must first notify a supervisor and obtain his authorization before contacting the CBSA”, details Mr.^Me SPVM label.

Moreover, if a person is apprehended by officers, but is not subject to an arrest warrant and is without status, that person will be helped by the Montreal police, continues Mr.^Me Labelle.

“In collaboration with partners in the health, social and community services networks, police officers refer undocumented people to resources that will help them, depending on their situation,” says the SPVM spokesperson.

However, Ted Rutland believes that people without status don't necessarily have confidence in this process. The Concordia University professor also describes a context where these people, for fear of being arrested and possibly deported, will completely change their way of life.

“Undocumented people need to change their lives and habits in a variety of ways that go against our idea of a free city,” he says. If you are undocumented and you ride a bike or use a vehicle, the police may stop you and ask for an ID. If I were undocumented, I would not ride a bike. I would walk or take public transit.”

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