He was twice returned from the United States after attempting an illegal entry but Canadian authorities took no action to remove him. On the third occasion Canada refused him readmission, whereupon he made a refugee claim in the U.S. Ressam was ordered removed but he remained at liberty while his lawyer sought to overturn the order. Ressam was convicted of theft but still escaped deportation and using a forged baptismal certificate secured a Canadian passport. What is remarkable about the two cases is that they represent not an unusual instance of police and bureaucratic ineptitude but the standard operation of immigration and refugee policies that have turned Canada into a haven for criminals and terrorists. In August, for example, it was reported that of 893 Chinese claimants who had been rejected by the Immigration and Refugee Board in the last three years only 93 had been removed.
Immigrants convicted of serious crimes remain in the country.
Guyanese immigrant Sunil Bhagwandass, with a series of convictions for drug trafficking, break and enter and robbery, remains in Canada courtesy of Federal Court Judge Frederick Gibson's recent ruling. Gibson's decision attracted widespread condemnation but was consistent with previous rulings. In 1995 Federal Court Judge Barbara Reed overturned a deportation order against Jordanian criminal Nedal Mohammed Ibrahim, who had repaid Canada's hospitality by robbing gas stations. Ibrahim's lawyer, David Matas, subsequently appeared before the United Nations Human Rights Commission, with financial support from Canadian taxpayers, to argue that the removal of non-citizens, guilty of serious criminal offences, was a violation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, to which Canada is a signatory. Criminals seeking entry to Canada need not depend on the refugee route.