A Pakistani man was deported by the United States hours after Canadian border services agreed to reconsider his case — but they only sent his lawyer the decision five days later, when it was too late.
Abdul Raqeeb was detained for more than two months in a New York Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention centre this summer.
CBC News first reported on the family’s situation in early September, while Abdul Raqeeb was still detained, and his wife Saba Raqeeb and child Shahzain, who is two and a half, were staying at a migrant shelter in Buffalo. Canadian border agents turned the family away in July at an official crossing, despite showing proof that Abdul Raqeeb has an uncle in Canada, making him and his family eligible to enter and claim refugee status.
Soon after the story was published, Jared Will, a Toronto-based immigration lawyer, took on the Raqeeb family’s case and made an urgent request to the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) to reconsider the request to enter Canada at a land border before his imminent deportation from the U.S. Saba and the child remain in Buffalo while they wait for developments.
Will says CBSA sent an email Sept. 23, agreeing to reconsider — as long as Raqeeb could present himself in person at a Canadian land port of entry “upon a scheduled appointment”. Land ports of entry are only accessible through the U.S.
But the emailed decision was dated Sept. 18, five days before it was sent to Will. That’s significant, he says, because Raqeeb was deported the same day.
He says this is one of several cases of people being denied entry into Canada despite showing proof they’re eligible and appears to be a result of CBSA “applying unduly stringent standards.”
“It’s disturbing because where they should be much more careful now because the consequences of a false negative are so severe, they’re being less careful,” Will said.
CBSA did not respond to a request for comment for this story in time for publication.
Family detained in U.S. after being turned away by Canada
Raqeeb, who is 46, migrated from Pakistan to the United States in January on a business and tourism visa with his wife and toddler.
The family moved after Abdul began receiving death threats for helping a man he didn’t know flee violence in Islamabad, Saba Raqeeb said. But once the Trump administration enacted its immigration policies, the family decided to try claiming asylum in Canada.
They attempted to cross into Canada on July 13 at the Peace Bridge port of entry between Buffalo and Niagara Falls, Ont., and planned to reunite with Raqeeb’s uncle, then apply for refugee status.
Saba says Canadian border agents told them they needed more documentation proving the relation to the uncle. But the next thing she knew, they were detained by U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP). The family spent 11 days in makeshift cells at the CBP office before Saba and her son were released on July 31.
But Raqeeb was handed over to ICE and taken to the Batavia, N.Y., detention centre, near Buffalo.
She says Raqeeb opted for voluntary deportation at one of his U.S. immigration hearings in August because of health problems and poor conditions he experienced in Batavia.
Canadian actress Jasmine Mooney tells CBC News about her 11-day ordeal in ICE detention after trying to enter the U.S. to renew her work visa. Mooney describes what she saw as ‘disgusting,’ saying of her detention cell: ‘That place breaks you.’
It took several days for Raqeeb to reach Islamabad, where the family used to live. While he was on the plane, he was informed he’d be taken to Karachi instead. Once he landed, Saba said, Pakistani police asked him to pay them the equivalent of $20,000 US or nearly $28,000 Cdn. A friend agreed to lend him $7,000 US, which they accepted.
He finally reached Islamabad on Sept. 21, Saba said. When she found out CBSA was asking him to show up at a Canadian land border through the U.S. after all that, Saba told CBC her feeling was: “What the hell is going on?”
Few legal avenues
Will is looking into other legal avenues for Raqeeb to enter Canada, though he says there are few. One would be for Immigration Minister Lena Diab to grant Raqeeb a temporary residence permit or a visitor visa, allowing him to fly to Canada, but those kinds of exceptions are rare.
Will wants to know why CBSA waited days before informing him of its decision, which he says is now “useless.”
Before U.S. President Donald Trump’s inauguration in January, Will says people who were turned away by Canada and detained in the U.S. were more easily released by American immigration officials.
“Since January, the pattern has been more like a clampdown” by CBSA, he said.
CBSA does appear to be turning a larger proportion of people away than last year, according to its own data. The agency has processed fewer asylum claims at land border crossings in 2025 than in 2024, but the amount of people it turned away has remained steady. Earlier this year, the agency pledged to remove an extra 4,000 people from the country by 2027.
