The U.S.-Mexico Border : "The Most Secure in History"

 

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) today announced that since January 20, 2025, it has seized 36,277 illegal crime guns and 2,317,999 rounds of ammunition from prohibited persons, gang members, and suppliers for transnational criminal organizations.

4,359 of these seized firearms were bound for Mexico, where they would have been used by violent drug cartels and gangs.  648,975 rounds of the seized ammunition were bound for Mexico, which averages to over 1,600 rounds per day.

Since President Donald Trump’s inauguration on January 20, 2025, ATF has led an aggressive nationwide effort to dismantle the domestic and international networks that arm violent criminals.

“Illegal crime guns increasingly originate from every state in the country. This is not a southwest border problem, it is a national threat,” said ATF Deputy Director Robert Cekada. “ATF agents are aggressively targeting gangs, cartels, and transnational criminal organizations that illegally traffic firearms and turn American streets into war zones. We will dismantle these networks at every level, cut off their access to weapons, and hold every criminal fully accountable under the law”.

Office of Public Affairs, U.S. Department of Justice, February 2026

Seized Weaponry, Office of Public Affairs, U.S. Department of Justice

 

According to authorities in Mexico, up to 500,000 guns from the United States are smuggled through to Mexico on a yearly basis. A figure disputed by a former agent of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, specializing in covert gun-trafficking networks who hazarded a more likely figure of a million smuggled firearms. This, against a more familiar backdrop of President Trump threatening Mexico over drug smuggling into the United States as his reason for sky-high trade tariffs.

 

President Claudia Sheinbaum has been doing her best to placate her American counterpart and has seen to it that Mexican forces have intensified their crackdown on Mexican drug cartels. While at the same time politely pointing out to Mr. Trump that it is American gunfire flooding Mexico with powerful weaponry that her own police, national guard and military are forced to deal with in their ongoing efforts to try to control drug trafficking. 

 

The United States, it seems, is more interested in what is entering across the border from Mexico to the U.S. than monitoring the reverse flows. While the U.S. focuses on drugs entering and the need to stop the inexhaustible flow, pouring billions of dollars into intelligence, investigation and arrests, the Sinaloa Cartel powerhouse responsible for the bulk of fentanyl pouring through U.S. streets, is facing a multiple-pronged war of its own, against U.S. drug enforcers and other Mexican cartels challenging its primacy.

 

The result has been an explosion of gun-smuggling that arms smugglers in the U.S. are working happily overtime to fulfill the resulting orders. The U.S. plan to use its military to intervene in Mexico could see American soldiers confronted by ruthless Mexican cartel members armed with the latest in American firepower. Weapons that include the like of grenade launchers, machine guns and assault rifles.

 

The weapons are frequently stripped to their parts, concealed inside truck panels, hidden compartments in vehicles and then transported. Private planes can be stuffed with weapons parts, parts lashed to speedboat hulls or drivers stashing weapons in a car trunk. Not completely unaware, in 2020 the U.S. government initiated a federal task force for arms trafficking to be intercepted from the U.S. to Mexico.

 

This infographic was created by the Drug Enforcement Administration's Special Operations Division as a visual representation of intelligence findings, to depict how an American supply chain provides firearms and ammunition to Mexican cartels. Project Thor / Obtained by CBS News

 

According to the ATF, over 4,300 firearms en route to Mexico were seized; representing a fraction of hundreds of thousands of weapons estimated annually to cross into Mexico. Mexico's security minister has asked his counterparts in the U.S. to investigate sources and suppliers of military-grade weapons not available from gun shops. The heavy weaponry that the Sinaloa cartel and Jalisco New Generation arm themselves with are of increasing concern to Mexico. 

 

Pressure from the Trump administration moved Mexico to deploy thousand of National Guardsmen and military forces to Sinaloa state. Highway checkpoints have been increased countrywide. Leading the smuggling cells to shift to air transport with the use of private planes and landing strips, up to the present depended on for drug shipments, and now carrying smuggled weaponry. 

 

From multiple states in the U.S.  a network of trafficking coordinators operate smuggling cells. American  citizens or residents are paid by smugglers to buy firearms from licensed dealers at stores and gun shows. In recruiting individuals to legally procure guns, each buyer is tasked to walk in, buy an AR-15 or a .50-caliber rifle, then hand it off for cash, thank you very much. 

 

Gun store employees, managers and owners are being bribed. Some among them inflate purchase prices for their own profit, collect a 10 percent kickback, and falsify records. Information from past customers are reused to conceal such off-the-books sales. The collected weapons are then assembled in 'safe houses', the disassembled guns moved south in cargo trucks and fishing boats.

 

According to a former A.T.F. agent, firearms are considered a strategic lifeline to major criminal groups in Mexico. "We've put billions into the drug war and a fraction of that into weapons trafficking. If they lose their guns, they lose the war", he explained. Bribes are part of the picture, with payments handed out to U.S. officials, including Customs and Border Protection and others, to take care of interference into illegal shipments.

 

The agency, asked to explain accusations of bribes taken by its agents, stated that C.B.P. agents and officers "enforce our nation's laws along what is now the most secure border in history." 

 

Seized Weaponry, Office of Public Affairs, U.S. Department of Justice

 

 

Sycophantic AI Chatbots

"As artificial intelligence (AI) systems are increasingly used for everyday advice and guidance, concerns have emerged about sycophancy: the tendency of AI-based large language models to excessively agree with, flatter, or validate users."

"Although prior work has shown that sycophancy carries risks for groups who are already vulnerable to manipulation or delusion, syncophancy’s effects on the general population’s judgments and behaviors remain unknown."

"Here, [in the study results] we show that sycophancy is widespread in leading AI systems and has harmful effects on users’ social judgments."

"In our human experiments, even a single interaction with sycophantic AI reduced participants’ willingness to take responsibility and repair interpersonal conflicts, while increasing their own conviction that they were right. Yet despite distorting judgment, sycophantic models were trusted and preferred."

"All of these effects persisted when controlling for individual traits such as demographics and prior familiarity with AI; perceived response source; and response style."  

"This creates perverse incentives for sycophancy to persist: The very feature that causes harm also drives engagement."

Artificial intelligence chatbot study: Sycophantic AI decreases prosocial intentions and promotes dependence 

Artificial intelligence chatbots are giving bad advice in a misguided attempt to keep their users happy. via REUTERS

 

Published recently in the journal Science, a study undertaken by researchers at Stanford University demonstrated that the flattering and validating that chatbots offer are in fact bad advice damaging to relationships and serve to reinforce negative behaviours in the users. This is the danger of AI informing people of solutions that fall in line with what the chatbot 'understands' that people really want to hear as  feedback. 

 

It was found by the researchers in testing 11 leading AI systems that all demonstrated varying degrees of obliging sycophancy; not merely that they dispense inappropriate advice, but  more disturbingly that people who use them trust and prefer AI solutions more when the chatbots just happen to justify their convictions. This is, after all, the same type of choice people make when they read and adhere to conclusions made by news reports validating what those readers already believe. 

 

A technological flaw tied to some high-profile cases of delusional and suicidal behaviour in vulnerable populations pervasive across a wide  range of people's interactions with chatbots was highlighted in the study report. The chatbots in fact, as though sensing what their human interlocutors believe to begin with, obligingly support those beliefs in an obvious move to give satisfaction, whether it is harmful or not; they do not judge. And people tend not to use their own self-agency to appraise that feedback.

 

The research has an additional troubling perspective, on the supposition that young adults that turn to AI to question life situations at a time when their transition to full adulthood in emerging levels of social intelligence, take a short-cut to form their impressions rather than allow life experiences to focus them. The manner in which AI steers beliefs tends to be sufficiently subtle as to bypass recognition by people interacting with the advanced informational technology.

 

Some chatbots have driven young, mentally unstable users to take their own lives. Getty Images

 

On average, AI chatbots affirmed a user's actions 49 percent more frequently than did other humans, the study found, including queries surrounding deception, illegal or socially irresponsible conduct, and other negative modes of behaviour. "We were inspired to study this problem as we began noticing that more and more people around us were using AI for relationship advice and sometimes being misled by how it tends to take your side, no matter what", explained Myra Cheng, doctoral candidate at Stanford, and an author of the report.

 

The research implications could be "even more critical for kids and teenagers", still in the developmental stages of emotional skills that result from real-life experiences with social friction, tolerating conflict, considering other people's perceptions, and duly recognizing one's own troubling reactions. 

 

A man communicates with an AUSUS Character Virtual Assistant, ROG Omni System in Taipei, Taiwan, March 25, 2026. AP Photo

 

Limit Coffee, Choose Tea for Better Bone Density Health

"We don't exactly know why [those who drink tea as opposed to coffee have a higher bone density]."

"However, based on  existing research in cells, it could potentially be due to tea containing compounds like catechins that may stimulate bone-building cells and therefore result in increased bone mineral density."

"Coffee's caffeine content, by contrast, has been shown in laboratory studies to interfere with calcium absorption and bone metabolism, though these effects are small and can be offset by adding milk." 

"Our results don't mean you need to give up coffee or start drinking tea by the gallon. But they do suggest that moderate tea consumption could be one simple way to support bone health, and that very high coffee intake might not be ideal, especially for women who drink alcohol."

"While calcium and vitamin D remain cornerstones of bone health, what's in your cup could play a role too. For older women, enjoying a daily cup of tea may be more than a comforting ritual, it could be a small step toward stronger bones."

Ryan Liu, Flinders University, Australia, study co-author 

 

"There's been a lot published about caffeine and bone density, and a lot of it is conflicting."

"The research is not saying you should go out of your way to stop or coffee's bad."

"You can continue drinking coffee, but there are some subgroups that make you more at risk for decreased bone mineral density [such as a high lifetime alcohol intake or consuming over five cups daily]."

Anika Anam, assistant professor of medicine, Yale School of Medicine

Researchers studied whether daily coffee and tea habits affected bone strength in older women. (iStock)

 

There are acknowledged benefits of consuming both tea and coffee in one's diet. However, a newly published study by researchers in Australia out of Flinders University studied data from the Study of Osteoporotic Fractures, an analysis of close to 10,000 women age 65 and older that concludes that too much coffee may affect bone health negatively. The researchers recorded tea and coffee consumption of participants, along with bone mineral density in their hip and femoral neck through follow-up periods.

 

Published in the journal Nutrients, their findings  were that at the 10-year mark, tea drinkers demonstrated slightly higher total hip bone mineral density than their coffee-consuming counterparts.  Still, the recorded bone mineral density was not found to be dramatic as an effect from tea drinking. "It's true there is a slight benefit of tea related to bone mineral density, but the difference is so, so small that clinically it may not be really relevant", observed professor of endocrinology, diabetes, nutrition and weight management, Michael Holick, of Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine.

 According to Kendall Moseley, medical director of the Johns Hopkins Metabolic Bone & Osteoporosis Center, low bone mineral density increases the risk of osteoporosis and "progressive thinning of the bone as we age, which makes someone more susceptible to fractures".

 

Women who drank tea had slightly better hip bone density than those who didn't, the study found. (iStock)

 

Around two to three cups of coffee daily seemed not to negatively affect bone mineral density, the researchers observed, but consuming five or more cups a day was associated with lower bone mineral density levels. Coffee drinkers reporting high lifetime alcohol consumption demonstrated lower femoral neckbone mineral density. The subjects in the study self-reported their use of tea and coffee, responding to the researchers' prompt that "asked for the number of cups, but not necessarily the type of tea, or the brewing strength", observed Anika Anam of Yale. 

 

The use of oral estrogen by participants was accounted for by the researchers, a type of hormone therapeutic regimen with the potential to strengthen bones. It was also acknowledged that there are other factors that play a role in the development of osteoporosis' likelihood that include family history, use of alcohol, tobacco smoking, along with race and ethnicity. In the final analysis, experts offer a commonsense solution: try not to exceed two to three cups of coffee daily.

 

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, for example, recommends the consumption of no more than 400 milligrams of caffeine a day, relative to roughly three 12-fluid-ounce cups. 

 

Tea may slightly support bone health in older women, but it should not replace proven osteoporosis prevention, the study's co-author said. (iStock)

 

Indigenous Women in Canada Failed by the Justice System

"[There is a] reluctance on the part of trial judges to sentence accused persons to penitentiary time, because it means they have to leave the North. Denunciation and deterrence are not adequately served by a presumption that those who commit sexual offences against children and adolescents [in Nunavut] are immune from penitentiary sentences."

"It is simply wrong to say ... that Mr. so-and-so 'is an Inuk, therefore he's entitled to a conditional sentence'. That bald assertion reduces [Gladue] to the very ethnic discount warned against by several courts of appeal."

"[Gladue] was never intended -- and should not be applied as -- engaging an automatic 'heritage-based discount'."

"Far too many reported cases across the country appear to give mere lip service to ... the hurt done to victims of domestic and sexual violence."

"Colonialism's legacy has affected Inuit women and girls every bit as much as Inuit men."

Judge Paul Bychok, Nunavut Court of Justice (retired) 

Anne Crawford, who's practiced law in Nunavut for more than three decades, says she hears from women who do not feel they are protected by the law. (Jordan Konek/CBC)

 

R v Gladue mandated that courts take into account systemic factors stemming from the legacy of colonialism, residential schools and intergenerational trauma in sentencing. In 1999 the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that instituting Gladue at the time of sentencing a malefactor of Indigenous descent be undertaken to address the issue of Indigenous overrepresentation in the Canadian prison system. That has had the effect, over the years, of minimizing punishment for crimes committed by people of Indigenous background.

 

The Investigative Journalism Bureau at the University of Toronto has released a study, validating what has become common knowledge in sentencing of aboriginal offenders in Canada. The takeaway featured the fact that Indigenous women are murdered at a significantly higher rate than are non-Indigenous women, at a factor of six times greater. Experts in the law place the responsibility for the situation of male offenders -- who represent by far the majority in the killing of females in their community -- on the Canadian justice system for its failure to secure full justice for Indigenous women.

 

Between 2018 and 2025, of 1329 suspicious deaths of women in Canada, 25 percent (340) were Indigenous, according to the research. 46 percent were convicted of manslaughter rather than first- or second-degree murder, of the75 cases that reached trial. The victim and the accused were known to each other in 97 percent of these cases, raising the unavoidable impression that crime and punishment in Canada have been corrupted in the case of Indigenous offenders, due to the 'Gladue principle'.

 

It stands out as the simple accounting of Indigenous offenders, inclusive of those standing trial for domestic and sexual violence against their Indigenous partners, are gifted with lighter sentences than would accrue to non-aboriginal criminal offenders. Before his retirement, Judge Paul Bychok presided over R v T.T. in the Nunavut Court of Justice. An Indigenous heavy equipment operator with a 'good life' had been charged with assault, sexual assault and voyeurism against his daughters.

 

Tara  Qunngaataq Tootoo Fotheringham, president of the Amautiit Nunavut Inuit Women's Association, says there is a false dichotomy at play that Canadians must choose between protecting Indigenous women and girls from violence at the expense of the over-incarceration of Indigenous men. (Jaison Empson/CBC)

 

Before that charge leading to trial, the man, known as T.T. to protect his daughters, had racked up nine convictions for violent crimes that included two for sexual assault, six for assault and one for sexual interference of a minor. In view of this man's propensity for violence and sexual assault, Judge Bychok bypassed Gladue, resisting the sentence proposed by the prosecutor (five to six years) and the 'merciful' sentence proposed by T.T.'s defence lawyer, of two to five years, arguing against transfer to a federal penitentiary in another province. 

 

In Judge Bychok's opinion "Nunavut's hundreds of victims of domestic and sexual violence are living a nightmare". It takes "tremendous courage" for victims living in remote communities to bring themselves to testify, all the more so, often in the presence of the family of the accused. The Gladue principle has had the effect of entrenching two-tier justice against Canadian women of Indigenous heritage. 

 

The  Nunavut Court of Justice in Iqaluit. Photo by William Koblensky Varela/NNSL

 

"Not Now, Not Ever"

"[The U.S. is] in negotiations right now."

"We have a number of people doing it. And the other side, I can tell you, they’d like to make a deal."

"The Iranian negotiators are very different and strange."

"They are begging us to make a deal, which they should be doing since they have been militarily obliterated, with zero chance of a comeback, and yet they publicly state that they are only 'looking at our proposal'. WRONG!!!" 

"[Iranian negotiators better] get serious soon before it is too late." 

U.S. President Donald Trump 

Donald Trump held a cabinet meeting at the White House. (Reuters: Evelyn Hockstein)

 

"Our first and last word has been the same from day one, and it will stay that way/"

"Someone like us will never come to terms with someone like you."

"Not now, not ever." 

Lt. Col. Ebrahim Zolfaghari, spokesman, Iranian military headquarters 

 

"Do not call your defeat an agreement... Have your internal conflicts reached the point where you are negotiating with yourselves?"

"You will see neither your investments in the region nor the former prices of energy and oil again until you understand this: stability in the region is guaranteed by the strong hand of our armed forces."

Ebrahim Zolfaghari, spokesperson, Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters 

People walk near Iranian missiles in a park in Tehran. (Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via Reuters)

 

Dismissing the American offer to pause the conflict, Iran launched more attacks on Israel and Gulf Arab countries, even as Israel continued to pound Tehran with airstrikes, and the United States has undertaken the deployment of paratroopers and Marines to the region; a none-too-subtle warning of more to come, at the choosing of the U.S. Iran's Press TV quoted an unnamed Iranian official's statement: "Iran will end the war when it decides to do so and when its own conditions are met". 

 

The U.S. 15-point proposal addressed sanctions relief, a rollback of Iran's nuclear program, limits on missiles and reopening of the Strait of Hormuz. The proposal includes as well restrictions on Iran's support for its proxy terrorist groups. These details provided by Pakistan and Egypt, whose officials are involved as intermediaries between the U.S. and Iran, hoping to see the conflict come to an end. 

 

For its part, Iran insists it has no intention of discussing its ballistic missile program, much less its support of the regional militias; neither Hamas, nor Hezbollah, nor the Houthis, or the Iraqi Shiite militias doing its bidding. As for control of maritime shipping passing through the Strait of Hormuz representing one of its most stark strategic advantages in squeezing the world economy through scarcer oil and gas passing through the Strait to world markets, that in and of itself is a non-starter. 

 

Attacks on regional energy infrastructure coupled with its restrictions on passage through the Strait have worked to the Islamic Republic's advantage, frustrating and infuriating the world community and having the effect of placing stress on the American president in demands that the conflict come to a  speedy end to relieve the issue of critical energy, fertilizer and consumer products stalled while awaiting the opportunity to cross through the Strait. 

 

Smoke rises from Kuwait international airport after a drone strike on fuel storage in Kuwait City, Kuwait, Friday, Wednesday, March 25, 2026. (AP Photo)

 

En route to the Middle East, up to a thousand troops from the U.S. 82nd Airborne Division. The process of sending some 5,000 Marines trained in amphibious assaults and thousands of sailors to the region is being worked out at the Pentagon. Meanwhile Pakistani and Egyptian officials are frantically attempting to arrange in-person talks between Iranians and Americans. The question is, who in the Islamic Regime now has that authority...given the extent of their losses among top-echelon figures. 

 

As for Iran's side of demands to end the conflict, Press TV cited a five-point plan from Iran for a ceasefire: a halt to assassinations of Iranian key figures; agreement that no additional conflict can be waged, war reparations, a cease of hostilities; and affirmation of Iran's "exercise of sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz". An exercise in sheer mockery of the U.S. plan. An implacable regime determined not to fade into history and prepared to take down with it as much pain as it can exert on its neighbours.

 

The Israeli military stated that a day earlier as part of its strikes, an Iranian submarine development centre in Isfahan had been struck through several waves of airstrikes. "There have been some days when the bombings are so intense you can't do anything", commented a 26-year-old graduate student in Tehran, a situation conducive to convincing him and his friends to remain safely at home. 

 

First responders inspect the remains of a residential building hit in an overnight strike during the U.S.-Israeli military campaign in Tabriz, East Azerbaijan Province, northwestern Iran, Tuesday, March 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Matin Hashemi)

 

In Israel. missile alert sirens sound multiple times daily as Iran and its creature Hezbollah launch attacks. Rockets have been fired into northern Israel around the clock by Hezbollah, with the February 28 inception of the war, disrupting hundreds of thousands of peoples' lives in Israel. 

 

And for Iran's Gulf Arab neighbours. Iran has not relented on the pressure it applies through drones and missile strikes. Saudi Arabia's Defence Ministry destroyed 8 drones over its Eastern Province -- and in Bahrain missile alert sirens sound. Although Kuwait shot down multiple drones, one hit a fuel tank at Kuwait International Airport, sparking a massive fire. 

 

Dog salon workers take cover with the dogs in a bomb shelter as air raid sirens warn of incoming Iranian missile strikes in Ramat Gan, Israel (Source: Associated Press)

 

 

 

Protection for Toronto's Jewish Community from Rabid Islamists

"Due to the changing security landscape in Toronto in recent weeks, including increased volatility and heightened fear in our communities, demonstrations  moving into residential neighbourhoods in the Bathurst and Sheppard area presents an unacceptable risk to public safety."

"As a result, demonstrators will not be permitted to enter residential streets in this area."

"[This is a] measured step to reduce the risk of escalation and maintain public safety." 

Toronto Police Service spokesperson Stephanie Sayer

A pro-Palestine march makes its way through Toronto, Sunday, Oct. 29, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young

 

The issue of Toronto's Jewish community forced by disinterest from Toronto's mayor to 'notice' the ebbing lack of  safety and security imposed on that demographic by gangs of roving 'pro-Palestinian' demonstrators and the inaction of the Toronto Police Service to rein in the verbal insults and assaults ranging from 'Final Solution!' to 'Globalize the Intifada!' -- and other not-so-veiled threats that arose in the wake of the Palestinian Hamas terrorists governing Gaza committing an unspeakable mass atrocity in southern Israel -- had to wait over two years for action. And the Jewish community is supposed to be grateful that their distress under constant threat from openly-celebrating Islamist violence is finally being partially addressed.

 

Ostensibly the move to finally act to put an end to the mob incursion into streets housing Jewish Torontonians was the result of Jewish community group lobbying. In very fact those community groups pleaded with the municipality, the police, the province, to act in the face of intimidation and threats when the demonstrations first emerged and that was directly after the shocking massacre of Israelis on October 7, 2023. The inaction of authorities at all levels to restore order and security from the federal government on down, was undoubtedly responsible for the kind of escalation that took place with synagogues, Jewish schools and community centres, along with privately owned Jewish businesses being shot at, firebombed and vandalized. 

A  protest at Bathurst Street and Sheppard Ave. West, a Jewish neighbourhood, featured one protester dressed as Yahya Al-Sinwar, the Hamas leader behind the October 7th massacre.  MSN

 

Each time violence erupted, authorities were quick to condemn the events, expressing solidarity with the Jewish community, piously declaiming that 'this (antisemitism and violence) is not Canada'. Yet it is what Canada has become under the watch of the decade-long reign of the Liberal government of Justin Trudeau, followed by Mark Carney. Both of whom have a penchant for bemoaning antisemitism, and never failing to link it with the (to them) equally troubling 'Islamophobia', which in itself is rather absurd, since most of the antisemitic attacks come courtesy of the Canadian Muslim population.

 

The Toronto Police spokesperson explained that legal protests on main streets in the area where the Jewish community in the city is located will be permitted to continue. The same protests that have taken place regularly since the day following the October7, 2023 slaughter of Israelis by Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and the PLO's Fatah contingents, led by the master-class terrorist group Hamas, whose charter is dedicated to the destruction of Israel.  

"Our community has consistently refused to accept the normalization of intimidation on residential streets in the heart of a heavily Jewish neighbourhood."

"Around Bathurst and Sheppard, residents, families, seniors, students and community institutions have been forced to contend with repeated demonstrations in spaces where people should be able to live, walk, pray, and gather in peace."

B'nai Brith Canada 

Another Jewish group that had called upon the city and police for attention to the plight of the Toronto Jewish community, stated that the announcement by the Toronto Police Service represented "a meaningful step -- but it must be matched with consistent enforcement and protection for our community." 

"At protests at Bathurst & Sheppard, extremists openly made threats of violence, glorified terrorism, and depicted Jews as sub-human — yet no arrests have been announced. After multiple attacks on our community, many are asking why the law is not being enforced."

"We’re calling on TPS to investigate and lay charges, declare assemblies unlawful when there are activities that promote and incite hate, and make the necessary and critical changes to protect our city."

Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs  

Images of antisemitic signage shared by X user Leviathan (@l3v1at4an) during an anti-Israel protest Bathurst St. and Sheppard Ave. West in Toronto on Sunday, March 15. (Credit: @l3v1at4an/X)

 

There is much to be concerned about.  Days following the U.S.-Israel launch of the joint aerial bombardment of the Islamic Republic of Iran, to destroy its nuclear ambitions by targeting its powerful missile caches, its launch sites, nuclear enrichment sites, leading government authorities and chiefs of its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in an effort to hasten  regime change and rescue the Iranian people from their persecutors while neutralizing Iran's capacity to train, arm and fund its proxy terrorist groups in the Middle East, synagogues were again hit by gunfire in Toronto.

 

Jewish-owned businesses and the U.S. consulate in Toronto were also shot at in demonstrations of Islamist targeting of associates and allies of the State of Israel. In addressing these and allied issues, the Toronto Police spokesperson stated that police officers would provide "clear direction". That anyone who fails to comply with them would face possible arrest for obstructing police.  

"The Toronto Police Service facilitates lawful demonstrations while balancing the rights of participants with the safety of the broader public."

Stephanie Sayer  

Toronto police stand watch near the Al-Quds day protest in Toronto, Ontario, on March 14, 2026.

(photo credit: Geoff Robins / AFP via Getty Images)

 

Welcome to Canadian Academia

"About 41 percent of these cases could not be closed because of a lack of response from students."

"Another 50 cases were identified as non-compliant and requiring further follow-up by the [immigration] department."

"[An increase in the number of study permit extensions relative to new study permits] ...due in part to the number of international students with post-secondary study permits who were in Canada, which, according to the [immigration] department, totalled 675,070 as of September 2025."

Auditor General of Canada report 

Over the past year, international students have protested in major provinces across Canada, opposing the myriad of policy changes. Photo: Mehakdeep Singh

"We are protesting on behalf of everyone because we want fair pathways to permanent residency and PGWPs [post-graduate work permits]."

"The protests have been going on for the last couple of months, led by various support organizations in Canada." 

Bikram Gill, former international student, Brampton, Ontario 

International students in Canada gather for a protest to call for support. PHOTO: OMNI News

 

Out of a total of 153,000 cases flagged for potential non-compliance under Canada's international student program, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada managed to conduct 4,057 investigations in 2023 and 2024, according to a recently released report by the Auditor General of Canada, which pointed out that almost 93 percent of 700 Canadian teaching institutions had submitted reports between the years 2023 and 2025 flagging the 153,000 cases. 

 

The reality of the situation is a scarcity of departmental operational funding to enable investigation. Leading to a situation where funding is available for only 2,000 cases to be investigated annually. The immigration department took 'limited action', according to the  report, in confirming non-compliance beyond contacting the investigated student for additional information, and few responded. The audit also undertook a study to determine how the immigration department worked around the cap of international students set into motion in 2024.

 

The approval rate for new study permits was found to be lower than initial projections foresaw. The forecasted approval in 2024 of 248,900 permits prior to the announcement of the cap, pivoted to 149,559 approvals for new study permits, a 57 percent reduction in comparison to 2023.  That trend continued in 2025, when 50,370 new study permits were approved rather than the departmental forecast for 2025 of 255,360 study permits. 

*Between 2023 and 2024, the department identified over 153,000 students as potentially non compliant with study permit conditions.

*However, IRCC had funding to investigate only 2,000 cases each year. This means more than 98% of flagged cases went uninvestigated due to processing backlogs.

*The audit also uncovered 800 confirmed fraud cases where applicants used fake documents or misrepresented information to enter Canada between 2018 and 2023.

*The department took no action in any of these cases even after discovering the fraud.

Auditor General Report  

The report noted larger-than-anticipated declines in new study permits for all provinces, as well as an increase in the number of extensions for study permits, relative to new study permits. Two-thirds of approved study permits were identified by the report for extensions of existing study permits, totalling 77,295 to last September, with an additional 50,547 unprocessed extension applications.

 

The immigration department failed to monitor which students were expected to leave each year,  and which students had voluntarily exited Canada. The auditor general's office confirmed with the Canada Border Services Agency that 15,000 students had left the country of the 39,500 individuals who should have left. Needless to say, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada has no idea where the foreign students who no longer have a valid study permit, might be and how they may be disposing themselves in Canada.