Canada’s attempt to deport Iranian regime members fails again

The Immigration and Refugee Board nixed Ottawa's bid to deport the Islamic Republic's roads director, saying he did not meet the criteria under rules that ban other officials.

A government strategy to prevent Iranian regime members from resettling in Canada is struggling to show results after border security officials lost their fourth deportation case.

In a decision obtained by Global News, the Immigration and Refugee Board declined to approve the deportation of Afshin Pirnoon, a former director general in Iran’s roads ministry.

Pirnoon came to Canada on a tourist visa in 2022 and was working as an Uber driver when the Canada Border Services Agency launched deportation proceedings against him.

The CBSA alleged the 50-year-old was not allowed in Canada because he was a longtime senior functionary and “political asset” of the Islamic Republic.

But on Aug. 12, Refugee Board member Madona Mokbel rejected the CBSA’s deportation case, ruling that despite his position and more than two decades in the service of the regime, Pirnoon didn’t qualify as a “senior official.”

“Though his title may suggest on its face that he had a high-level position within the civil service, when examining all of the evidence, the panel finds that he did not exert significant influence on the exercise of government power,” she wrote.

The case is the latest in which an IRB judge has rebuffed the CBSA’s attempts to oust Iranian officials from Canada under a program the government put in place to stop them from using the country as a safe haven.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government banned senior Iranian officials from entering Canada in 2022 on the grounds they were part of a regime engaged in terrorism and rights abuses.