The Quebec government has extended for six months the permission for the Canada Border Services Agency to detain immigrants in the province's jails at the request of the federal government.

Earlier, the controversial agreement with the state Border Services Agency was due to expire on December 31, 2023. Now its new deadline has been fixed as 30 June 2024. The Ministry of Public Security of Quebec gave this information in a statement.

Let it be known that the Border Services Agency can keep any such foreign national in jail regarding whom it feels that his identity is not clear or he may be a danger to the public. Many immigrants were also detained where the agency believed they would not participate in the deportation process.

Between 2015 and 2020, the CBSA detained an average of nearly 8,000 immigrants each year, one in four of whom were sent to provincial jails. Many provinces are opposed to the government's move, with Nova Scotia the first province to stop detaining immigrants on behalf of Ottawa in August. Alberta, Saskatchewan and British Columbia have done so, and more provinces are slated to do so in 2024.