Human-rights groups are asking Canada’s federal government to go back on a budget plan to allow immigrants to be detained in federal prisons, saying that they are vulnerable and could be exposed to unreasonably harsh conditions.

Ottawa is allowed to detain foreigners without any charge when it is unable to identify them or when immigration officers suspect they will not show up to hearings to determine whether they can stay in Canada.

The majority of the 71,988 migrants detained by the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) between 2012 and 2023 were deemed to be flight risks, according to CBC.

The CBSA would then decide whether to lock them up in one of its three federal immigration holding centres in Toronto, Laval, or Surrey, or in a provincial jail.

The Canadian Press reported that provinces have dropped out of agreements allowing the federal government to house foreigners in their jails.

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“The government proposes to introduce amendments to the Corrections and Conditional Release Act and the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act to enable the use of federal correctional facilities for the purpose of high-risk immigration detention,” read Annex 3 on page 409 of the federal budget.

Immigration Minister Marc Miller said that immigrants would be held in areas separate from criminal offenders, but Amnesty campaigner Julia Sande said at a press conference that it is a matter of concern that these changes “are being rammed through (in) a budget bill.”

“We think it is inconsistent with basic Canadian values and the betrayal of the notion of our country as a nation of refuge,” said Allan Rock, a member of the World Refugee & Migration Council.

Rock further said that the government’s plan to use its penitentiaries – which are usually reserved for those who have committed the worst crimes – is “completely unacceptable.”

It is also allowed for border agents to detain those they believe are barred from entering the country for committing crimes or violating human rights. When detained, these people do not have the same rights or oversight as regular criminals in Canadian jails.

“People in immigration detention are subjected to widespread human-rights violations. They are regularly handcuffed, shackled and held with little to no contact with the outside world,” said Samer Muscati, an advocate with Human Rights Watch.

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“Because there is no legal limit on the duration of immigration detention, people are at risk of being incarcerated indefinitely.”

“The public safety and public security dimension has been exaggerated by the Canada Border Services Agency from the outset,” Rock said.

“And by the way, if there is a concern about public safety, there are federal holding facilities which can accommodate up to almost 500 people now between British Columbia, Quebec and Ontario, and those are, in essence, medium security jails.”