He was ordered out of Canada years ago, but Abdirisak Yusuf Ibrahim has remained in the country dealing with deportation orders and racking up new criminal charges, including ones for drug trafficking in Saskatchewan.
He is behind bars in Toronto after the Regina Police Service warned residents about Ibrahim at the end of July. They said he was wanted on Saskatchewan-wide warrants for drug trafficking, and Canada-wide warrants for first-degree murder in Toronto, and he might be in Regina.
It turns out those weren’t the first brushes with the law Ibrahim had, and older ones had put his ability to live in Canada in question.
An 11-year-old Ibrahim came to Canada from Somalia in 1996 with his mother and four siblings. His father was here as a refugee, and sponsored his family.
In 2006, a deportation order was laid on him. According to hearing documents, he had been found inadmissible for “having been convicted in Canada of an offense under an Act of parliament punishable by a maximum term of imprisonment of at least 10 years.” The documents didn’t elaborate.
In a hearing in 2007 Ibrahim convinced the Immigration and Refugee Board to give him a two-year stay on the deportation order because he hadn’t be convicted of anything between the hearing and when the offense occurred two years earlier. From hearing documents:
“The appellant’s demonstrated avoidance of further criminality is an indication that he poses a diminished risk of re-offending and that he had taken steps towards his rehabilitation. The appellant has also shown that he had begun to make positive efforts at establishment in Canada from a social and economic perspective.”
He had to obey several conditions including not breaking any laws, reporting any new charges, and not using or selling any illegal drugs.
But in 2010 another hearing was held that ultimately canceled the stay of the deportation order. He had broken several of the conditions, including being convicted of possession for the purpose of trafficking crack cocaine.
But Ibrahim is still in Canada.
Neither the Immigration and Refugee Board, nor the Canadian Border Service Agency, would say whether there is still a deportation order out for Ibrahim, citing concerns over The Privacy Act.
Ibrahim was implicated in a murder in November 2014 in Toronto, for which the Canada-wide warrant was issued. He was arrested on this charge on Tuesday, but the question remains whether he will be able to stay in Canada.