$208M TO IRB TO DEAL WITH 41,000 ILLEGAL MIGRANTS

   "The past 24 months have seen the highest volumes of refugee protection claims in the IRB's history," the departmental plan document states. "As a result, an inventory of more than 75,000 claims has accumulated, representing more than two years of work at the current funding levels."
  In the 2017-18 fiscal year, the number of new claims began exceeding the board’s capacity to process them by an average of about 2,300 cases a month. This new backlog was created in part by an influx of over 41,000 "irregular" migrants who have crossed into Canada since 2017 by avoiding official border checkpoints. Canada has also seen a rise in the number of refugees entering the country through regular, legal channels.

Hussen says the government is responding to this increased pressure, pointing to new investments contained in this year's federal budget that promise $208 million in new money for the IRB to tackle refugee claims. This money go toward hiring 130 new staff, including 85 new decision-makers.