CBSA concurs with end of Transit Police agreement

CBSA concurs with end of Transit Police agreement

by Canadian Press – BC Local News

VANCOUVER – A Canada Border Services Agency spokeswoman says the agency agrees there is no need to continue with a memorandum of understanding with Metro Vancouver Transit Police.

Jennifer Bourque says the intent of the agreement was meant to facilitate the placement of a CBSA officer in Transit Police offices in order to help with information sharing.

But she says since information sharing is covered under existing privacy legislation, CBSA did not see the need to have an officer embedded with Transit Police and the memorandum was never used.

Transit police end CBSA agreement after Mexican migrant’s death

Transit police end CBSA agreement after Mexican migrant’s death
By Matt Kieltyka Metro

Metro Vancouver Transit Police is ending a policy with Canadian Border Services Agency that played a role in the lead-up to the death of Lucia Vega Jimenez in 2013.

The department announced on Friday it has discontinued a Memorandum of Understanding with the CBSA and will only arrest people during fare checks if they have outstanding warrants, regardless of their immigration status.

Jimenez, an undocumented migrant from Mexico, died days after hanging herself in a Vancouver airport holding cell while awaiting deportation in December 2013 – having been taken into custody initially by Transit Police during a fare check.

Metro Vancouver Transit police end controversial agreement with CBSA

Metro Vancouver Transit police end controversial agreement with CBSA
Decision follows suicide of undocumented migrant Lucia Vega Jimenez

By Tamara Baluja, CBC News Posted: Feb 20, 2015 8:01 PM PT Last Updated: Feb 21, 2015 1:36 PM PT

Metro Vancouver Transit Police will end its controversial agreement with Canada Border Services Agency after undocumented migrant Lucia Vega Jimenez hung herself in 2013.

Previously, transit police would hold an undocumented migrant who the CBSA was interested in, if they found one evading fare.

As of next week, transit police spokesperson Anne Drennan said it will continue to make arrests on outstanding warrants, but “police will who encounter undocumented migrants during the course of fare enforcement activities will leave any follow-up action to federal authorities.”

Transit Police to end memorandum of understanding with CBSA

A controversial agreement between Transit Police and the Canada Border Services Agency is set to come to an end.

By Justin McElroy Web Producer Global News

The Memorandum of Understanding between the two groups will be discontinued, according to Transit Police spokeswoman Anne Drennan. She said Transit Police will continue to arrest on outstanding warrants, but “police who encounter undocumented migrants during the course of fare enforcement activities will leave any follow-up action to federal authorities.”
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Harsha Walia, co-founder of No One Is Illegal, says they announced the decision at a meeting today with “Transportation Not Deportation”, a group which has been calling for the elimination of the agreement for some time. She said they didn’t explain why the MOU was being discontinued.

“This MOU should never have been in place but now thanks to grassroots community mobilizing including 40 organizations and over 1,500 people who signed our petition, Transit Police has made a commitment to stop enforcing federal immigration policy. Public transit should not be a border checkpoint,” she said.

Transit Police announce end to agreement with CBSA

Transit Police announce end to agreement with CBSA

THE CANADIAN PRESS February 21, 2015

VANCOUVER — Metro Vancouver Transit Police are changing the way officers deal with undocumented migrants during fare checks over the case of a Mexican woman who hanged herself while awaiting deportation.

Lucia Vega Jimenez (HE’-MEN’-ez) died in hospital in December 2013, days after security guards found her hanging inside a shower stall inside a holding facility at Vancouver’s airport.

Weeks earlier, Transit Police stopped her for fare evasion and called Canada Border Services Agency, which arrested Jimenez when a database check showed she had been previously deported from the country.

Transit Police spokeswoman Anne Drennan says the force has discontinued its agreement with the border agency, and an individual must be wanted on an outstanding warrant before officers make a similar arrest.