Iranian facing deportation for evading sanctions tries to sponsor mother to emigrate – National
A Toronto man facing deportation for violating sanctions against Iran is suing the Canadian government for rejecting his attempt to sponsor his mother to emigrate.
Amin Yousefijam, an Iranian citizen who also goes with Ameen Cohen, filed his case in State Court after Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada rejected his application for sponsorship.
The lawsuit asks the court to set aside the decision, saying it was unfair, but the request does not say that the Canada Border Services Agency was trying to deport Yousefijam as a security threat.
The Immigration and Refugee Board said a decision on his deportation is expected in the coming weeks. Meanwhile, Yousefijam now lives 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 the IRCC, which declined to comment as the matter was before the Federal Court.
“While we cannot comment on a specific issue, a permanent resident is generally ineligible to sponsor a parent if he or she is inadmissible to Canada. People can be found ineligible for criminal or security reasons,” the spokesperson said.
Born in Iran as Amin Riki, the former Tehran police officer changed his name to Amin Yousefijam before arriving in Canada in 2016, according to the border watchdog.
He was arrested in Toronto in January 2021 on US charges that he conspired to export sensitive technology to Iran in violation of economic sanctions.
He was jailed for 10 months before being extradited to Michigan, where he pleaded guilty. Exiled to Ontario, he officially changed his name to Cohen, a moniker he said he chose because it “touched me.”
Convicted in the penal system, the brothers changed their names to Cohen
Arash (left) and Amin Yousefijam, also known as Aurash and Ameen Cohen.
His brother Arash was also convicted and likewise changed his name to Cohen and became a dentist under his adopted name. Ontario revoked his dental license in 2024 after Global News exposed his past.
In February 2025, the CBSA referred Yousefijam to the Immigration and Refugee Board for deportation proceedings, arguing that his involvement in evading Iranian sanctions made him a national security threat.
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His actions jeopardized the Canadian government’s policy toward the Iranian dictatorship, which leads a “resistance movement” made up of terrorist groups Hamas, Hezbollah, Iraqi forces and the Yemeni Houthis, the CBSA said.
At his hearing, Yousefijam said he had only pleaded guilty to avoid US sanctions because it was the fastest way to resolve the issue. “It was not an admission of guilt,” he insisted.
According to court documents filed this month and released to Global News, Yousefijam applied to support his mother as an immigrant on August 18, 2025, six months after his deportation hearing.
His request was rejected because he did not pay the required amount. In his complaint, he said the transaction was not approved, calling it an error of “faith”. He is standing trial.
Ontario minor 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 allegations of the Iranian refugee who threatened to be deported after he asked them to pay money.
“People are suing left and right in small claims court, what’s new?” Arash Yousefijam responded via email when asked about the case.
A government official who is accused of denying that he has authority
Canadian residence card of Amin Yousefijam. He officially changed his name to Ameen Cohen.
Immigration and Refugee Board
Yousefijam’s deportation case is one of several presented to the Iranian people as the federal government comes under pressure to prevent members and supporters of the regime from using Canada as a safe haven.
The CBSA has dismissed allegations that it received tips about 700 government officials living in Canada. Instead, it said 280 tips have come in and 174 investigations have been launched.
Most of the investigations were closed because the people in question were not in Canada or “were determined not to be an official in the Iranian regime,” the CBSA said.
Border officials have found 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 proceedings.
The hearing of the case of one of them, Abbas Omidi, continued on Monday. The CBSA alleged that before coming to Canada, he was the deputy director general at the Ministry of Industries, Mines and Trade in Iran.
But Omidi downplayed his role in government, saying he was merely a technical person with no decision-making authority. “I was lower than the minister,” he testified.
After arriving in Canada in March 2022, he worked as an Uber driver and continued to take part in consulting in Iran’s mining industry, although he was not paid, he testified, speaking through a Persian interpreter.
Omidi’s trial will resume on April 10. So far, only one member of the regime has been expelled under the policy introduced in 2022 to respond to Iran’s crackdown on women’s rights protesters.
The presence of Iranian officials in Canada has become a hot-button issue since pro-regime forces killed thousands of protesters in January and the US and Israel went to war with the Islamic Republic in February.
Stewart.Bell@globalnews.ca
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