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A Toronto man facing deportation for violating sanctions against Iran has filed a court case against the Canadian government for rejecting his attempt to sponsor his mother to immigrate.
Amin Yousefijam, an Iranian citizen who also goes by Ameen Cohen, filed his case in Federal Court after Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada turned down his sponsorship application.
The case asks the court to set aside the decision, arguing it was unfair, but the filing fails to mention that the Canada Border Services Agency has been trying to deport Yousefijam as a security threat.
The Immigration and Refugee Board said a decision on his deportation was expected in the coming weeks. Meanwhile, Yousefijam is now living in Richmond Hill, Ont., according to his court filings.
He did not respond to requests for comment. The CBSA referred questions about his case to IRCC, which declined to comment since the matter was before the Federal Court.
“While we cannot comment on a specific case, a permanent resident is generally not eligible to sponsor a parent if they themselves are inadmissible to Canada. Individuals may be found ineligible on criminality or security grounds,” a spokesperson said.
Born in Iran as Amin Riki, the former Tehran policeman changed his name to Amin Yousefijam before arriving in Canada in 2016, according to the border enforcement agency.
He was arrested in Toronto in January 2021 on U.S. charges that alleged he had taken part in a conspiracy to ship sensitive technology to Iran in violation of economic sanctions.
He was detained for 10 months before being extradited to Michigan, where he pleaded guilty. Deported back to Ontario, he legally changed his name to Cohen, a moniker he said he chose because it “resonated with me.”
His brother Arash was also convicted and similarly changed his name to Cohen and became a dentist under his adopted name. Ontario revoked his dental licence in 2024 after Global News revealed his past.
In February 2025, the CBSA sent Yousefijam to the Immigration and Refugee Board for a deportation hearing, arguing his involvement in Iranian sanctions evasion made him a national security threat.
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His actions compromised the Canadian government’s policy on Iran’s authoritarian regime, which leads an “axis of resistance” made up of terror groups Hamas, Hezbollah, Iraqi militias and Yemeni Houthis, the CBSA argued.
At his hearing, Yousefijam argued he had only pleaded guilty to the dodging of U.S. sanctions because it was the fastest way to resolve the matter. “It was not an admission of guilt,” he insisted.
According to court documents filed this month and released to Global News, Yousefijam applied to sponsor his mother as an immigrant on Aug. 18, 2025, six months after his deportation hearing.
His application was denied because he did not pay the required fees. In his appeal, he claimed the transaction was not approved, which he called a “good-faith” mistake. He is representing himself in the case.
Ontario small claims court records obtained by Global News show that in December 2019, the Yousefijam brothers agreed to pay $14,000 to an Iranian woman who had sued them and their mother.
But they denied the Iranian refugee claimant’s allegations they had threatened to have her deported after she asked them to repay money.
“People sue each other left and right in small claims court, what’s new?” Arash Yousefijam responded in an email when asked about the case.
Yousefijam’s deportation case is one of several dozen launched against Iranians as the federal government is under pressure to prevent members and supporters of the regime from using Canada as a safe haven.
The CBSA has rejected claims that it had received tips concerning 700 high-level regime officials living in Canada. Rather, it said 280 tips had come in and that 174 investigations had been launched.
Most of the investigations were closed because the individuals in question were either not in Canada or were “determined not to be a senior official in the Iranian regime,” the CBSA said.
Border officials have identified 32 suspected senior members of the Iranian government living in Canada, according to the CBSA. Twenty-three of them have been, or will be, sent to the IRB for deportation hearings.
A hearing for one of them, Abbas Omidi, continued on Monday. The CBSA has alleged that before coming to Canada, he served as a deputy director general in Iran’s Ministry of Industry, Mines and Trade.
But Omidi downplayed his role in the government, arguing that he was simply a technocrat with no decision-making authority. “I was so many levels lower than minister,” he testified.
After arriving in Canada in March 2022, he worked as an Uber driver and continued to play a consulting role in Iran’s mining industry, although he was never paid, he testified, speaking through a Persian interpreter.
Omidi’s case resumes on April 10. So far, only a single regime member has been deported under a policy introduced in 2022 in response to Iran’s crackdown on women’s rights protesters.
The presence of former Iranian officials in Canada has become a more pressing issue since pro-regime forces killed thousands of demonstrators in January and the U.S. and Israel went to war against the Islamic Republic in February.
Stewart.Bell@globalnews.ca
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