by Travis Lupick on Mar 15, 2013 at 7:03 pm

Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson has come out against a television show filming searches and arrests of immigrants in the city. “I’m very concerned about the CBSA [Canada Border Services Agency] raid that took place in conjunction with a reality tv show,” read an email attributed to the mayor. “It’s disturbing to see that kind of media exploitation take place—that personal suffering shouldn’t be treated as entertainment. Even if people have not come here legally, they deserve to be treated with basic dignity.”

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As many of you have probably already heard, Canadian Border Service Agency officers conducted raids at number of construction work sites yesterday, including one raid which was filmed for a border security reality TV show. In a show of solidarity and rage, approximately 80 members of the community, including families of those detained as well as activists and community organizers, attended an emergency rally today.

Diana, a family member of one of the workers picked up in the immigration enforcement raid states, “I feel frustrated and sad and angry and hurt. I don’t know when I will see him. As a First Nations woman, I have a right to choose my partner and my life and how I want to live. He was working, supporting his family back home and my family here. Who is this government to say who can stay?”

Angela Joseph, another family member, said of her husband, “He is a great person and a great father and spouse and I’m here to help him any way I can. I think that the immigration services needs to be more lenient on families to keep them together, especially when they have small children?”

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CBC News Posted: Mar 14, 2013 10:04 AM PT

Immigration activists in Vancouver are protesting the arrest of eight migrant workers who they say were picked up by border agents and filmed for a reality TV series during a raid on a construction site on Wednesday. Construction worker Gord Beck says he was working on a condo complex at Victoria Drive and 20th Avenue when armed border agents arrived in black SUVs.

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Borderline offensive: The CBSA and reality television
By Michael Stewart | March 14, 2013. Rabble.ca

On Wednesday, at least three construction sites were raided by Canadian Border Service agents looking for undocumented workers. Some reports indicate that up to sixty agents, some armed, some in plainclothes, emerged from black SUVs and performed floor-to-floor sweeps of the sites, interrogating workers and foremen, and demanding identification. CBSA has so far refused to disclose how many sites were raided yesterday, and how many agents were involved.

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Published Thursday, Mar. 14, 2013 5:32PM PDT

Wives of the allegedly illegal workers whose arrests were filmed for a reality TV series Wednesday say their families’ suffering shouldn’t be sold as entertainment. Diana Thompson was among other heartbroken spouses and activists who protested the Canada Border Services Agency’s Vancouver busts as heavy-handed and dehumanizing on Thursday. Tears streamed down Thompson’s face as she described her failed struggle to sponsor her husband Tulio Renan Aviles Hernandez.

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