Do we need ICE in Canada?
End the exploitation—crack down on greedy employers and broken rules, not vulnerable workers
Canada’s immigration system is a dumpster fire, and slapping an ICE-style enforcement band-aid on it won’t fix a thing. We don’t need more border muscle; we need policies that actually work instead of feeding corporate greed and lobbyist agendas.
Our immigration numbers exploded without matching housing, jobs, or integration plans. The result? Sky-high rents, pissed-off locals, and a youth unemployment spike. The Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP) has become the poster child for failure —Canadians increasingly blame it for squeezing them out of entry-level jobs while tying foreign workers to single employers like indentured servants.
One glaring symptom of this broken system is the massive number of people who overstay expired visas or permits with almost zero consequences. With over a million work permits expiring in 2025 alone (and nearly another million set for 2026), estimates suggest hundreds of thousands—potentially up to a million—remain in Canada without legal status. Many live in major urban centres like Toronto, Vancouver, and Brampton, cramming into overpriced rentals or shared basements amid the housing crunch. Where do they work? Often under the table in cash jobs in sectors desperate for cheap labour: construction sites, restaurants and hospitality, farms and meat processing plants, caregiving, and retail. These gigs are low-wage, unsafe, and exploitative—exactly the kind greedy bosses love because overstayers can’t complain without risking deportation. It’s a perfect storm: employers get compliant, disposable workers at rock-bottom pay, while the government looks the other way.
The TFWP itself is rotten at its core. Workers face wage theft, unsafe conditions, and threats of deportation if they speak up. Amnesty International called it out as inherently exploitative, and enforcement fines barely scratch the surface—companies treat them like parking tickets. Meanwhile, big employers (looking at you, Tim Hortons and fast-food chains) keep lobbying hard for more TFWs to keep wages low and avoid hiring or training Canadians.
Lobbyists and corporate interests are the real puppet masters here. They push for endless cheap labour while pretending it’s all about “labor shortages.” Quebec employers begged for more immigrants even as the province tightened rules—because profits matter more than people.
Enough already. We need serious enforcement on wage and safety violations, better skills-matching for newcomers, actual investment in training Canadians, and proper tracking and removal processes for those whose time is up. Prioritize fair wages, retention, and rule of law over importing more disposable labor. Stop protecting the exploiters. Start protecting the workers—both Canadian and foreign.
