{"id":466820,"date":"2026-02-10T23:33:14","date_gmt":"2026-02-10T23:33:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/466820\/"},"modified":"2026-02-10T23:33:14","modified_gmt":"2026-02-10T23:33:14","slug":"conservatives-to-propose-barring-non-citizens-convicted-of-crimes-from-making-refugee-claims","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/466820\/","title":{"rendered":"Conservatives to propose barring non-citizens convicted of crimes from making refugee claims"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Pierre Poilievre said on social media non-citizens who commit serious crimes \u2018must be forced to leave our country.\u2019Nathan Denette\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

The Conservatives on Tuesday introduced a motion calling on the government to bar non-citizens convicted of serious crimes from making refugee claims.<\/p>\n

The motion also calls on the government to prevent asylum claims from people whose cases are still working their way through the courts.<\/p>\n

The motion is related to an explosion in extortion-related crimes. British Columbia Premier David Eby has called the wave of extortion cases a crisis and has asked Ottawa to close loopholes around asylum claims.<\/p>\n

Conservative immigration critic Michelle Rempel Garner, who sponsored the House motion, told the House of Commons on Tuesday every statistic represents \u201creal human beings who have had their lives and their communities shattered.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSmall business owners who are receiving crude threats demanding protection money, only to have their shops shot up, homes riddled with bullets and arsons that destroy people\u2019s livelihoods and sanctity,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Rempel Garner said more than a dozen suspects facing deportation claimed refugee status and efforts to expel the people responsible for the \u201cextortion epidemic\u201d have fallen through a loophole.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe foreign nationals were identified by B.C.\u2019s Extortion Task Force, but once the CBSA began investigating them, they claimed to be refugees,\u201d Rempel Garner said. \u201cAs a result, deportations of the 14 suspects have been put on hold until the Immigration (and) Refugee Board decides whether they have legitimate cases for asylum.\u201d<\/p>\n

Several big city mayors have pushed Ottawa to address the extortion problem. The municipal council in Surrey, B.C., is calling on Ottawa to declare a federal state of emergency over the rise in extortion cases. The city reported 35 suspected incidents of the crime in January alone.<\/p>\n

Justice Minister Sean Fraser said Tuesday extortion is a serious crime and what is happening in Surrey is \u201ccompletely unacceptable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fraser pointed to \u201ctough laws\u201d already in place and the proposed changes to bail and sentencing law to make it more difficult for repeat offenders to receive bail.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are solutions on the table, but we need all parties to collaborate and stop obstructing in the House to actually help to do what we can federally to bust up these extortion rings and deliver safety to communities,\u201d Fraser said.<\/p>\n

Delegates at the recent Conservative party convention in Calgary called for similar changes to the immigration and justice systems when they voted in favour of a policy proposal saying Canadian taxpayers should not pay for the \u201crehabilitation of foreign nationals.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Pierre Poilievre said on social media non-citizens who commit serious crimes \u2018must be…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":466821,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[901,888,902,879,877,903,48,876,895,896,891,878,875,46,549,295,894,887,914,880,881,893,43,889,890,884,904,885,909,910,44,912,907,911,905,908,882,898,899,714,897,906,865,61,41,39,42,40,900,892,886,883,913],"class_list":["post-466820","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-alberta","tag-arts-news","tag-bc","tag-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news-video","tag-british-columbia","tag-canada","tag-canada-news","tag-canada-sports","tag-canada-sports-news","tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","tag-canadian-breaking-news","tag-canadian-news","tag-economy","tag-education","tag-environment","tag-federal-government","tag-foreign-news","tag-globe-and-mail","tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","tag-government","tag-headlines","tag-life-news","tag-lifestyle","tag-local-news","tag-manitoba","tag-national-news","tag-new-brunswick","tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","tag-news","tag-northwest-territories","tag-nova-scotia","tag-nunavut","tag-ontario","tag-pei","tag-photos","tag-political-news","tag-political-opinion","tag-politics","tag-politics-news","tag-quebec","tag-sports-news","tag-technology","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-travel","tag-trudeau","tag-us-news","tag-world-news","tag-yukon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/466820","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=466820"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/466820\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/466821"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=466820"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=466820"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=466820"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}