Thousands of refugee claimants are living in Canada without having been fully cleared by national security, according to a report that shows a massive backlog in screenings amid a border crisis that began in 2016.The internal government report showed the number of asylum seekers awaiting clearance had exploded sevenfold between 2016 and 2018.As of last February, Canada Border Services Agency had 11,745 asylum seekers in the queue for security assessment, up from just 1,683 two years earlier. Refugee claimants accounted for 41 per cent of the overall security backlog, which also included screenings required for those applying for permanent residence, international students, foreign workers and visitors.Lawyer Richard Kurland, who obtained the border agency report under an access to information request, said all so-called irregular migrants who crossed the border for asylum from the U.S. would have undergone an initial identity check with the CIA and FBI based on biometrics information, such as fingerprints and travel documents, before being released for further screening by border agents, which may include personal records from a refugee claimant’s home country.“Canada does not blindly let terrorists, security threats and organized criminals into the country. The (initial screening) system is picking up the highest-level risks,” Kurland told the Star. “But what level of risks are we taking in? What level of risks are we prepared to accept that are below national security threats and terrorism? Other risks are not unimportant.”While official statistics showed only 0.2 per cent of the screened asylum seekers were deemed to be a threat to Canada, the fact 11,745 were in the country and not yet assessed fully was troubling, Kurland said. Average wait time to complete the border agency security screening was 72 days during that time period, with the oldest file in the backlog being 857 days.Read more: ‘We felt we were reborn.’ ...
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