DELAYS IN DEPORTING DRUG DEALERS SHOW FLAWS IN SYSTEM, SAYS CRITIC

Pending Legislation Will Cancel Appeals To Serious Offences

The government's failure to deport two Vietnamese drug dealers before
they killed an Edmonton man is unacceptable, says Alliance
Immigration critic, Diane Ablonczy.

"No system is perfect, but there are just too many problems and there
have been too many of these instances with our immigration system,"
the Calgary Nosehill MP said Friday.

"On a scale of 1-to-10 our system is not even a five when it comes to
being safe or operating properly," she added.

But an immigration spokesperson said legislation which will take
effect next month will correct the problems.

Canadian immigration officials had issued deportation orders against
brothers Phi Manh Nguyen, 23, and Hoang Phuong Nguyen, 25. The pair
were still around on Sept. 20, 2000, to hack and stab John Arruda
with a butcher knife and a meat cleaver after a driving dispute.

Both were convicted of manslaughter and will be sentenced Thursday.
The third man, Viet Hoan Nguyen, no relation to the brothers, was
also convicted of manslaughter, but is a Canadian citizen.

Phi Nguyen was sentenced to three years in prison in 1998 after being
convicted on two counts of drug trafficking. He was ordered deported
July 7, 1999, but the following year an immigration and refugee board
panel put a three-year hold on the decision.

Under normal circumstances that gives a person time to prove they
deserve to stay. "If all goes well the deportation order would
normally be lifted," explained Canada Immigration assistant manager
Randy Gurlock.

Such an appeal will no longer be possible after June 28, he added.
People sentenced to two years or more in jail will no longer be able
to appeal a deportation order.

Hoang Phuong Nguyen also appealed his deportation order after he was
sentenced to three years in prison on four counts of drug trafficking
in 1997. His appeal was refused but he was allowed to stay free while
immigration officials arranged for his travel papers with the
Vietnamese government.

"Sometimes that can take months or even years," Gurlock says. "In
order to jail a person while the papers are being arranged we need to
show either that they are a flight risk or that they present an
immediate danger to the public."

It's hard to prove immediate danger exists apart from exceptional
cases, he added. "I don't mean to minimize drug trafficking," Gurlock
said, "but it would require a record of violence for it to hold up
before an immigration adjudicator. The Immigration Act is not
intended to detain a person indefinitely."

The act would have to be amended to make it easier to jail deportees
awaiting the completion of their paperwork, he said.