Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) is always on the lookout for people who are working without proper authorization. (See: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/story/2011/12/23/ns-illegal-worker-crackdown-release.html) If CBSA finds someone who is working illegally, there is a very good chance that the person will be put in jail until they are deported from Canada.
People who are detained by CBSA have the right to be brought in front of an immigration judge and that judge will decide if the person should continue to be detained or not. This procedure is called a detention review. By law, any individual has a right to a detention review within 48 hours of their detention. If the judge does not order release, there is another detention review scheduled within 7 days and then another review is scheduled every 30 days thereafter.
There are a number of factors that the judge will consider when determining whether or not to order release. Generally speaking, immigration judges do not want to detain someone indefinitely. The judge will consider how long the detention is likely to last, whether the detained individual is likely to try to evade immigration authorities in the future, whether the individual is a danger to the public and whether the individual has adequate identification documents.
For most people, the biggest issue is convincing the judge that they will cooperate with immigration authorities in the future. If someone has been caught working illegally, and thereby demonstrated a lack of regard for Canadian immigration laws, it may be difficult for the judge to accept that the individual will cooperate in the future on their word alone.
Sometimes it can be very helpful for the detained person to bring a bondsperson or surety to help convince the judge that they will comply with all future instructions from immigration authorities. The bondsperson is someone who acts as a guarantor for the detained person. In effect, the bondsperson leaves a sum of money with the judge and the judge will only return that money if the detained person fully complies with instructions from CBSA. If the detained person is released and fully cooperates with CBSA, the money will be returned to the bondsperson.
What should you do if you find yourself in this situation? The first step is to contact an immigration lawyer as soon as possible. A lawyer can help you navigate through these complex procedures and explain step by step what your best options are. Also, we often assist our clients with finding suitable bondspersons and making sure they have the correct documentation to get the detained person released as quickly as possible.
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