Liberal leadership candidate Ruby Dhalla has pledged to address human trafficking and deport all individuals residing in Canada illegally.

On Monday, Dhalla received confirmation from the Liberal Party of her eligibility to stand as a candidate in the leadership race.

This development follows the party’s rejection of fellow Indian-Canadian Chandra Arya, who was disqualified from the race after failing to secure approval from party officials.

Dhalla has since appealed to Arya’s supporters and other conservative-leaning Liberals, urging them to back her in her bid to bring the Liberal Party back to “the center.”

“We must clamp down on human trafficking and those who are here illegally”, she posted to X, later promising to “deport every illegal immigrant in Canada.”

Around half a million foreigners are illegally residing in Canada, most of whom have come to Canada on student visas, then refused to leave when legally required.

Dhalla previously served as the Member of Parliament for Brampton-Springdale for seven years, winning three consecutive elections before losing her seat to Conservative Parm Gill in 2011.

In her 2006 re-election campaign, Dhalla enlisted the support of Bollywood star Arjun Rampal, earning her the reputation of being a “star” figure who bolstered the Liberal Party’s image in Brampton’s Indian community.

She has described her leadership style as “fresh”, being the only candidate in the race without significant ties to the Trudeau liberal government.

As of January 28, five other candidates have been officially approved by the Liberal Party of Canada to run in the leadership race to succeed Justin Trudeau: Mark Carney, former governor of the Bank of Canada; Chrystia Freeland, former finance minister and deputy prime minister; Jaime Battiste, MP for Sydney-Victoria; Karina Gould, former government House leader; and Frank Baylis, former MP for Pierrefonds-Dollard.

The results will be announced on March 9.