15 extortion suspects are seeking refugee status, Canada’s border agency says
By Canadian Press on December 12, 2025.
The Canada Border Services Agency says 15 foreigners facing extortion charges have applied for refugee status in Canada.
The statement from CBSA neither reveals the nationalities of the individuals nor details about their applications, but Surrey, B.C. Mayor Brenda Locke says she’s “appalled” to learn the suspects are claiming refugee status to evade deportation.
Locke says extortion attempts have disproportionately impacted her city, and its residents deserve better than to see Canada’s legal and immigration systems “abused by criminals to extend their stay in Canada.”
Locke says extortion suspects “must face swift justice,” and the federal government must immediately fix immigration and deportation laws to protect communities like hers, which has seen 106 extortion cases this year, according to Surrey Police Service.
CBSA says Canada has legal obligations with respect to asylum and Canadian law allows persons applying for refugee status to have their cases heard, if they are eligible.
But the agency also says that if individuals are ineligible for a hearing on “more serious grounds,” it will ask the Refugee Board of Canada to suspend proceedings until it is decided if individuals are eligible.
CBSA says “persons found inadmissible” for reasons such as “serious criminality” or “organized criminality” won’t have their refugee claims heard and instead will be ordered to leave the country.
The refugee claims by the extortion suspects were first reported by Global News.
B.C. has been hit by a wave of extortion crimes and shootings, mostly targeting the South Asian community.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 11, 2025.
Wolfgang Depner, The Canadian Press
14-13
Another great example of the abuse of our immigration system and how we really need to focus on uniting as Canadians and put our energy into improving legislation so the abusers who when you “give them an inch ( so not to be to heavy handed, but fair ) take a mile instead” as they laugh at us!
We see this abuse in the Criminal Code violations, the encampment issues and the Alberta recall act which was suppose to give ‘reasonable, lawabiding’ Albertan’s a way to recall MLA’s who truly were not performing their duties. The NDP were some of the worst offenders in the past and in Lethbridge should have been recalled, but now, have made the choice to take power by insurrection, using unions and special interest groups. True socialist behaviour . . . text book and it all fits in well with their culural Marxist agenda! But once again, the average Albertan is asleep, not paying attention to the damage they will cause that will far surpass the billions it cost Albertans and the thousands of lost lives from the harm reduction Supervised Consumption Site policies they forced on us! True socialists pushing cultural Marxism!
These instances are a perfect example of why Canada is so divisive and too many disrespectful users and abusers are now taking advantage . . . more alarming, is that many of the issues are foreign influenced or foreign manifested. Some gangs from South America are part of home invasion/break and enter campaigns where they are given intel collected by those living in Canada, of which homes are high value to target, so a small group flies in, hits the homes and flies out again . . . well organized!
But, instead of opposition parties focusing on working with government to change legislation to protect us, they put all their energy into bringing it down before an election, using questionable measures and causing groups to rise up . . . no wonder Canada is falling apart!