By Jessie Stensland
WHIDBEY NEWS TIMES
October 16, 2011
By all accounts, Jaime Villicana-Campos is a wonderful husband and a beloved father to his children.
He held two physically demanding jobs and worked seven days a week to support his large family. He somehow still made time to spend with his little girls, especially 6-year-old Angelica who suffers from epilepsy. She is particularly close to her doting father and is known in the family as "Daddy's girl."
But because of the nation's sometimes vexing immigration laws, Villicana-Campos is sitting in a Tacoma federal detention facility. He was nabbed by immigration officials in June, a month before his fifth daughter was born. He still hasn't met baby Sophia.
In the meantime, his wife and five daughters languish without him in a Central Whidbey home that his brother-in-law rented for the family. His wife, Terra Villicana, is fighting for his freedom, but suffers from depression that's so debilitating that she had to be temporarily admitted to a psychiatric unit. Tears constantly stream down her cheeks as she discusses the untenable situation.
"This is beyond pain. This is torture," Terra said. "The hardest thing is to hear the kids cry at night. They just want their dad."
Jaime Villicana-Campos is married to an American citizen and has five children born in America. He has lived in America since he was 14. He worked hard and paid taxes. But still, he faces prison followed by deportation to Mexico because of a mistake he made in 1997.
Under federal law, Villicana-Campos can't become a citizen because he was convicted of a felony. His wife explains that he was hanging out with the wrong crowd when he was a young man in Skagit County. He drove some friends to what turned out to be a drug deal and was arrested by the police.
Villicana-Campos, who didn't speak English very well at the time, got some poor advice from an attorney. Terra said he was advised to plead guilty with the promise that he'd be sentenced to work ethics camp and then would be able to return home.
But instead, the Skagit County judge sentenced him to two years in prison. After he got out, he was deported to Mexico. As Terra explained, the other members of Villicana-Campos' family had become American citizens, but for some reason he was never naturalized.
Terra admits that her husband sneaked into the country twice. The first time was when he was 14. Then he again entered illegally after he was deported.
In a statement on the case, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement corroborates the details of Villicana-Campos' story, but adds that he was convicted of trafficking cocaine and methamphetamine. He was deported to Mexico "based on that aggravated felony conviction," according to ICE.
After returning to Skagit County, Villicana-Campos met Terra, who had grown up in Coupeville. They fell in love and were married in 1999. They had their first daughter, Jasmine, in 2001.
Jasmine now goes to Coupeville schools. Like her younger sisters, she's taken her father's absence hard and often cries herself to sleep, sometimes grasping her father's shirt.
"All I want is for my daddy to be home and for him to have his papers," she said. "If I could have that, I would be the happiest girl alive."
Terra said Angelica's seizures had been under control, but the stress of her father's absence has caused them to flare up. The doctors have had to increase her medication.
As Terra explained, immigration agents came to get Villicana-Campos at their home in Mount Vernon on June 23. They pounded on the door and claimed they were police officers. She answered the door and questioned them. They eventually admitted they were from immigration, but promised they just wanted to talk to her husband for a few minutes and then would leave. Terra was eight-months pregnant at the time and begged Villicana-Campos to hide, but he wanted to take responsibility for his actions. They took him away in handcuffs.
About a month later, July 28, Terra had her fifth baby while Villicana-Campos sat in federal detention. She said it's impossible to describe how difficult it was to have the little girl without her husband there.
"I'm miserable every day," she said. "It's so difficult to answer these kids' questions."
The statement from Immigration and Customs Enforcement, however, explains the government's case.
"On July 6, Mr. Villicana-Campos was released to the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service after he was criminally charged with illegally re-entering the United States after deportation, a felony charge that carries a maximum penalty of up to 20 years in prison. Mr. Villacana-Campos remains in U.S. Marshals' custody at this time as he awaits sentencing following his conviction on the felony immigration charge," according to the statement.
While the family waits for answers, Terra has been fighting to bring her husband home. She's contacted attorneys, lawmakers, a civil rights group and even the White House. She's currently working with Sen. Patty Murray's office in hopes of helping her husband's case.
In addition, she's collected testimonials from people who know her husband. At the time of his arrest, he was a manager of a horse farm and also worked at a mobile home park for seniors. Terra said he was loved by the residents and was known for helping folks on his own time.
"They were crying because they miss him so much," she said.
Another one of her allies is Dr. Robert Prins, a well-known and respected OB/GYN physician in Anacortes. He delivered all five of her girls and has offered to help the family in any way he can. He described Villicana-Campos as "a fine father."
"I have known Terra now as you can see for over 10 years and she is a delightful young lady," Prins wrote in a letter of support. "She has taken great care of her children, loves her husband and has been an asset to our community and it is a real tragedy that immigration has what I would consider to be blinders on with regards to the circumstances here. I fully understand the issues of illegal immigration and am in agreement with the general attitude and approach, but this seems like a very exceptional circumstance and those of us in the community who know and love Terra, would very much like to see this resolved in her favor."
While immigration laws are rigid, there is some hope for Villicana-Campos. His fate is largely in the hands of judges. His attorney has petitioned the Skagit County Superior Court to have the conviction vacated because he wasn't properly advised about deportation. If the attorney is successful, it would open up a road to citizenship.
Villicana-Campos already pleaded guilty in federal court to entering the country illegally. His sentencing hearing is set for Dec. 8. He's facing a maximum of 20 years in prison, but Terra prays the judge will recognize the exceptional circumstances and have mercy. She plans to bring Sophia to meet her father.
"These children just need their dad," she said. "He's an amazing, wonderful, wonderful dad and it just doesn't make any sense that they are keeping him away from his kids."
http://www.seattlepi.com/local/sound/article/Coupeville-mother-of-5-seeks-mercy-for-detained-2221500.php#ixzz1bdYp7iVa
Showing posts with label Asylum Cases. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Asylum Cases. Show all posts
Monday, October 17, 2011
Sunday, September 25, 2011
Paola Ortiz deportation: A Canadian disgrace
Despite public outcry, officials turn blind eye to danger mother of two faces from abusive ex in Mexico
By Isabel Macdonald
Coop média de Montréal
September 24, 2011
On Friday, Sept. 23, Canada deported Paola Ortiz, the mom of two Canadian citizen kids, aged 2 and 4, to Mexico, a country she fled in 2006 to escape sexual abuse and domestic violence at the hands of her then-financé, a federal Mexican police officer.
Since last week, Paola’s case has gathered widespread support, particularly across Quebec, where she had been granted residency. More than 25 groups answered a call from immigrant rights group Solidarity Across Borders (SAB), and joined forces in calling on federal Immigration Minister Jason Kenney and Public Security Minister Vic Toews to intervene to stop the deportation of the Montreal mom. The Fédération des femmes du Québec (FFQ) issued a statement pointing out that it was “totally delusional” to think Paola “would be protected by the Mexican police authorities once she is returned to Mexico.” The deportation was also denounced publicly by Québec Solidaire and by a near-unanimous vote by the Parti Québecois (the official opposition party in the Quebec parliament), with the péquiste spokesperson on immigration opposing the deportation as inhumane. The immigration critic also denounced the ruling Quebec Liberal’s silence on the issue and urged the provincial government to “intervene energetically” on the issue.
In the federal House of Commons, the Bloc Québécois called for federal intervention and the Member of Parliament representing Paola’s riding in Pointe St. Charles, Montreal, the NDP’s Tyrone Benston, also joined more than 200 of Paola’s neighbours and community members in calling on Kenney to stop the deportation.
Quebec’s former immigration minister, André Boulerice, publicly denounced the silence of the Quebec Liberals, as well as the role of the Harper administration (an “espèce de Tea Party,” as he called the federal authorities responsible for allowing the deportation to go forward).
In the context of this fast-growing opposition to Paola’s expulsion, it seemed possible to hope that sanity might prevail in Canadian immigration, and the Montreal mom be allowed to stay. Particularly given that less than two years ago, a Mexican woman who’d been refused asylum and deported by Canada was murdered by the assailants she’d tried to escape in her efforts to flee to Canada. And on Sept. 22, a family that had sought asylum but been rejected by Canada returned to the country, after their deportation was overturned, drawing attention to the fact that decisions in refugee cases can be flawed.
Paola was originally slated to be deported on Tuesday, Sept. 20. Following orders from Canadian immigration authorities, she presented herself at Trudeau airport, with her luggage. But her deportation was narrowly averted when airport medical staff intervened. Diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and depression in the wake of the domestic violence she survived, Paola suddenly began shaking, and had difficulty breathing as she waited for Canadian Boarder Services Agency (CBSA) agents to march her onto a Mexico-bound plane. She was hospitalized later that morning, but Canadian authorities instructed her to present herself to Immigration Canada to receive a new deportation date.
On Wednesday morning, Paola’s friends and supporters gathered outside the towering grey building at 1010 Rue St. Antoine West that houses the Citizenship and Immigration Canada offices in downtown Montreal, in a show of support as she presented herself to the immigration authorities.
“There’s no guarantee she’ll come out,” a cop patrolling the demonstration on the sidewalk outside told Paola’s supporters, explaining that this was what Immigration security personnel had told the Montreal police. Paola had recently been incarcerated for a week in an immigrant detention centre in Laval, so it was conceivable that immigration authorities would simply throw her back into a cell at the immigrant jail to await her deportation.
When Paola stepped out of the federal building around noon, her supporters breathed a collective sigh of relief. Until they learned that Canada had ordered her deported in less than 48 hours.
On the night of Thursday, September 22, a vigil was held blocks from the federal immigration offices. Dozens of Paola’s friends and supporters turned out for the all-night event, which was organized by Dignidad Migrante. Attendees included the former immigration minister André Boulerice, as well as the péquiste immigration spokesperson Yves-François Blanchet.
In the centre of the gathering, a sign, lit up by a ring of candles that also formed a heart, proclaimed “Basta de deportaciones” (Stop Deportations!).
The following morning at 5:30 am, several of the supporters who’d kept the vigil, as well as a handful of the journalists who’d been doggedly following Paola’s story, congregated in front of the grey building on Rue St. Antoine.
Canada’s unsuccessful earlier efforts to deport Paola had become a major news story in the Montreal media, with TV, radio and print journalists turning up at Trudeau airport along with Paola’s friends and supporters. This time, though, Paola was to be deported in secret. She had been ordered to appear on Friday not at the airport, where she would again be able to be with her friends, family and supporters, and speak to media, but at the immigration offices at 1010 Rue St. Antoine. A journalist familiar with deportation proceedings predicted that the authorities would transport her directly to an RCMP security gate at Trudeau airport, keeping her out of any public spaces in the airport where she would have access to media.
At 6 am on September 23, two white men wearing white uniforms appeared at the glass doors of the office building at 1010 St. Antoine. Her friends asked if someone could accompany her for support. Without even looking up, the men in uniform brusquely refused. “No,” one of them said firmly, as the glass doors slammed shut behind Paola.
Half a dozen local journalists, along with her friends and supporters, were left to stare at the closed glass doors from the sidewalk, as Paola was whisked into the bowels of the grey building.
She had had to leave behind her two young children--one of whom is autistic, and the other of whom has hearing difficulties. She worried about her kids’ safety (as well as her own) in Mexico, and also wanted the youngsters to continue receiving the special medical services they depend on in Canada, which would not be accessible to them in her home country.
“What did she tell her kids?” one journalist asked, several minutes after Paola disappeared with the men in uniform.
But the question might be better directed at Canada.
How on earth will we explain to those two young Canadian kids why our government has robbed them of their mother?
Follow Isabel Macdonald on twitter at @IsabelMacdo
http://montreal.mediacoop.ca/story/paola-ortiz-deportation-canadian-disgrace/8216
By Isabel Macdonald
Coop média de Montréal
September 24, 2011
On Friday, Sept. 23, Canada deported Paola Ortiz, the mom of two Canadian citizen kids, aged 2 and 4, to Mexico, a country she fled in 2006 to escape sexual abuse and domestic violence at the hands of her then-financé, a federal Mexican police officer.
Since last week, Paola’s case has gathered widespread support, particularly across Quebec, where she had been granted residency. More than 25 groups answered a call from immigrant rights group Solidarity Across Borders (SAB), and joined forces in calling on federal Immigration Minister Jason Kenney and Public Security Minister Vic Toews to intervene to stop the deportation of the Montreal mom. The Fédération des femmes du Québec (FFQ) issued a statement pointing out that it was “totally delusional” to think Paola “would be protected by the Mexican police authorities once she is returned to Mexico.” The deportation was also denounced publicly by Québec Solidaire and by a near-unanimous vote by the Parti Québecois (the official opposition party in the Quebec parliament), with the péquiste spokesperson on immigration opposing the deportation as inhumane. The immigration critic also denounced the ruling Quebec Liberal’s silence on the issue and urged the provincial government to “intervene energetically” on the issue.
In the federal House of Commons, the Bloc Québécois called for federal intervention and the Member of Parliament representing Paola’s riding in Pointe St. Charles, Montreal, the NDP’s Tyrone Benston, also joined more than 200 of Paola’s neighbours and community members in calling on Kenney to stop the deportation.
Quebec’s former immigration minister, André Boulerice, publicly denounced the silence of the Quebec Liberals, as well as the role of the Harper administration (an “espèce de Tea Party,” as he called the federal authorities responsible for allowing the deportation to go forward).
In the context of this fast-growing opposition to Paola’s expulsion, it seemed possible to hope that sanity might prevail in Canadian immigration, and the Montreal mom be allowed to stay. Particularly given that less than two years ago, a Mexican woman who’d been refused asylum and deported by Canada was murdered by the assailants she’d tried to escape in her efforts to flee to Canada. And on Sept. 22, a family that had sought asylum but been rejected by Canada returned to the country, after their deportation was overturned, drawing attention to the fact that decisions in refugee cases can be flawed.
Paola was originally slated to be deported on Tuesday, Sept. 20. Following orders from Canadian immigration authorities, she presented herself at Trudeau airport, with her luggage. But her deportation was narrowly averted when airport medical staff intervened. Diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and depression in the wake of the domestic violence she survived, Paola suddenly began shaking, and had difficulty breathing as she waited for Canadian Boarder Services Agency (CBSA) agents to march her onto a Mexico-bound plane. She was hospitalized later that morning, but Canadian authorities instructed her to present herself to Immigration Canada to receive a new deportation date.
On Wednesday morning, Paola’s friends and supporters gathered outside the towering grey building at 1010 Rue St. Antoine West that houses the Citizenship and Immigration Canada offices in downtown Montreal, in a show of support as she presented herself to the immigration authorities.
“There’s no guarantee she’ll come out,” a cop patrolling the demonstration on the sidewalk outside told Paola’s supporters, explaining that this was what Immigration security personnel had told the Montreal police. Paola had recently been incarcerated for a week in an immigrant detention centre in Laval, so it was conceivable that immigration authorities would simply throw her back into a cell at the immigrant jail to await her deportation.
When Paola stepped out of the federal building around noon, her supporters breathed a collective sigh of relief. Until they learned that Canada had ordered her deported in less than 48 hours.
On the night of Thursday, September 22, a vigil was held blocks from the federal immigration offices. Dozens of Paola’s friends and supporters turned out for the all-night event, which was organized by Dignidad Migrante. Attendees included the former immigration minister André Boulerice, as well as the péquiste immigration spokesperson Yves-François Blanchet.
In the centre of the gathering, a sign, lit up by a ring of candles that also formed a heart, proclaimed “Basta de deportaciones” (Stop Deportations!).
The following morning at 5:30 am, several of the supporters who’d kept the vigil, as well as a handful of the journalists who’d been doggedly following Paola’s story, congregated in front of the grey building on Rue St. Antoine.
Canada’s unsuccessful earlier efforts to deport Paola had become a major news story in the Montreal media, with TV, radio and print journalists turning up at Trudeau airport along with Paola’s friends and supporters. This time, though, Paola was to be deported in secret. She had been ordered to appear on Friday not at the airport, where she would again be able to be with her friends, family and supporters, and speak to media, but at the immigration offices at 1010 Rue St. Antoine. A journalist familiar with deportation proceedings predicted that the authorities would transport her directly to an RCMP security gate at Trudeau airport, keeping her out of any public spaces in the airport where she would have access to media.
At 6 am on September 23, two white men wearing white uniforms appeared at the glass doors of the office building at 1010 St. Antoine. Her friends asked if someone could accompany her for support. Without even looking up, the men in uniform brusquely refused. “No,” one of them said firmly, as the glass doors slammed shut behind Paola.
Half a dozen local journalists, along with her friends and supporters, were left to stare at the closed glass doors from the sidewalk, as Paola was whisked into the bowels of the grey building.
She had had to leave behind her two young children--one of whom is autistic, and the other of whom has hearing difficulties. She worried about her kids’ safety (as well as her own) in Mexico, and also wanted the youngsters to continue receiving the special medical services they depend on in Canada, which would not be accessible to them in her home country.
“What did she tell her kids?” one journalist asked, several minutes after Paola disappeared with the men in uniform.
But the question might be better directed at Canada.
How on earth will we explain to those two young Canadian kids why our government has robbed them of their mother?
Follow Isabel Macdonald on twitter at @IsabelMacdo
http://montreal.mediacoop.ca/story/paola-ortiz-deportation-canadian-disgrace/8216
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
Canada Set to Deport Mexican Mom and Her Canadian Kids
Pacific Free Press
September 13, 2011
Solidarity Across Borders denounces the imminent deportation of a Mexican mother and her two Canadian children by Solidarity Across Borders.
Solidarity Across Borders denounces the imminent decision by the Canadian authorities to procede with the deportation of Paola Ortiz and her two Canadian children of two and four years old.
Paola Ortiz arrived in Montreal five years ago after fleeing a situation of sexual and conjugal violence in Mexico, her country or origin. There she was a victim of violent physical, sexual, and psychological abuse by her then-husband, a federal police officer. She has been diagnosed by various specialists with post-traumatic stress and depression. Mrs. Ortiz's children also have health challenges. Her daughter of four years suffers from significant hearing problems, while her son of two years has recently been diagnosed with autism. Both children are receiving treatment and support from various specialists.
In 2006 upon her arrival in Canada, Paola Ortiz requested refugee status from Canada. The Immigration and Refugee Board refused her application one year later, under the pretext that the Mexican state provided adequate protection to women survivors of conjugal violence. However, many sources from the field uncover the situation of violence for women in Mexico, and the almost absolute impunity accorded to its perpetrators.
During the summer of 2011, Ms. Ortiz was detained for one week at the Immigration Detention Centre in Laval, being consequently separated from her children. She is presently in limbo, awaiting a deportation date that could be issued and executed as early as this week. Her lawyer has submitted a request for a stay of her deportation, in her interests and those of her children.
« By constantly threatening Paola and her family with deportation, the Canadian government is acting as an accomplice to the sexist violence that Paola has endured », explains Rosalind Wong, a member of the Solidarity Across Borders network that is supporting Ms. Ortiz. « Moreover, the government is ignoring not only its human rights obligations and its obligations towards refugees, but also its responsibilities towards children born on Canadian territory, children who have the right to live in conditions that are fair, safe, and with dignity. This means to remain in Canada, the country of their birth, with their mother. »
For the other members of Solidarity Across Borders working with Ms. Ortiz, there is no question that Ms. Ortiz and her children will not receive the specialized services that they need should they be deported to Mexico.
« The treatment of Ms. Ortiz in recent weeks displays a worrying tendency on the part of Canada's immigration system, » adds Rosalind Wong. « Mainly, a flat-out denial of the situation of violence and its impunity in countries like Mexico, and the increasing use of repressive tools like detention and precipitated deportation, deliberately overlooking any consideration of the rights of the children or the psychological precarity of women who have experienced trauma and violence.»
In 2009, Immigration Minister Jason Kenney imposed a mandatory visa on all visitors from Mexico, alleging that too many requests for asylum seekers originating from Mexico were false. This gesture is one of several measures recently put into place by the Canadian government that refugee advocates have decried as simply dividing and criminalizing immigrant and refugee communities, in an aim to restrict their access to Canadian territory.
Solidarity Across Borders joins Ms. Ortiz, her family, and many friends and community members of Montreal and Point St. Charles neighborhood, to demand that Ms. Ortiz be given permanent status in Canada.
Soldarity Across Borders is a network of support and struggle for the dignity and justice of migrants without status. Its principal demands are the end of deportations and detentions, the regularization of all non-status people and the abolition of the double punishment.
For more information:
Stewart Istvanffy, legal representative of Paola Ortiz — 514-876-9776
Rosalind Wong, Solidarity Across Borders — 514-759-8346
http://www.pacificfreepress.com/news/1/9700-canada-set-to-deport-mexican-mom-and-her-canadian-kids.html]
September 13, 2011
Solidarity Across Borders denounces the imminent deportation of a Mexican mother and her two Canadian children by Solidarity Across Borders.
Solidarity Across Borders denounces the imminent decision by the Canadian authorities to procede with the deportation of Paola Ortiz and her two Canadian children of two and four years old.
Paola Ortiz arrived in Montreal five years ago after fleeing a situation of sexual and conjugal violence in Mexico, her country or origin. There she was a victim of violent physical, sexual, and psychological abuse by her then-husband, a federal police officer. She has been diagnosed by various specialists with post-traumatic stress and depression. Mrs. Ortiz's children also have health challenges. Her daughter of four years suffers from significant hearing problems, while her son of two years has recently been diagnosed with autism. Both children are receiving treatment and support from various specialists.
In 2006 upon her arrival in Canada, Paola Ortiz requested refugee status from Canada. The Immigration and Refugee Board refused her application one year later, under the pretext that the Mexican state provided adequate protection to women survivors of conjugal violence. However, many sources from the field uncover the situation of violence for women in Mexico, and the almost absolute impunity accorded to its perpetrators.
During the summer of 2011, Ms. Ortiz was detained for one week at the Immigration Detention Centre in Laval, being consequently separated from her children. She is presently in limbo, awaiting a deportation date that could be issued and executed as early as this week. Her lawyer has submitted a request for a stay of her deportation, in her interests and those of her children.
« By constantly threatening Paola and her family with deportation, the Canadian government is acting as an accomplice to the sexist violence that Paola has endured », explains Rosalind Wong, a member of the Solidarity Across Borders network that is supporting Ms. Ortiz. « Moreover, the government is ignoring not only its human rights obligations and its obligations towards refugees, but also its responsibilities towards children born on Canadian territory, children who have the right to live in conditions that are fair, safe, and with dignity. This means to remain in Canada, the country of their birth, with their mother. »
For the other members of Solidarity Across Borders working with Ms. Ortiz, there is no question that Ms. Ortiz and her children will not receive the specialized services that they need should they be deported to Mexico.
« The treatment of Ms. Ortiz in recent weeks displays a worrying tendency on the part of Canada's immigration system, » adds Rosalind Wong. « Mainly, a flat-out denial of the situation of violence and its impunity in countries like Mexico, and the increasing use of repressive tools like detention and precipitated deportation, deliberately overlooking any consideration of the rights of the children or the psychological precarity of women who have experienced trauma and violence.»
In 2009, Immigration Minister Jason Kenney imposed a mandatory visa on all visitors from Mexico, alleging that too many requests for asylum seekers originating from Mexico were false. This gesture is one of several measures recently put into place by the Canadian government that refugee advocates have decried as simply dividing and criminalizing immigrant and refugee communities, in an aim to restrict their access to Canadian territory.
Solidarity Across Borders joins Ms. Ortiz, her family, and many friends and community members of Montreal and Point St. Charles neighborhood, to demand that Ms. Ortiz be given permanent status in Canada.
Soldarity Across Borders is a network of support and struggle for the dignity and justice of migrants without status. Its principal demands are the end of deportations and detentions, the regularization of all non-status people and the abolition of the double punishment.
For more information:
Stewart Istvanffy, legal representative of Paola Ortiz — 514-876-9776
Rosalind Wong, Solidarity Across Borders — 514-759-8346
http://www.pacificfreepress.com/news/1/9700-canada-set-to-deport-mexican-mom-and-her-canadian-kids.html]
Sunday, January 2, 2011
Mexican teen deported from Canada
By United Press International
Jan. 1, 2011
TORONTO, Jan. 1 (UPI) -- A Mexican youth who said he feared returning to his homeland was deported from Canada Saturday, a day after a judge rejected his appeal, an advocacy group said.
No One Is Illegal said Daniel Garcia, 18, who came to Canada three years ago with his older sister, was put on a plane in Toronto, the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. said.
Garcia's sister, Brenda, 30, was returned to Mexico Monday. She had asked for asylum in Canada on the grounds she faced persecution in Mexico as a lesbian. She said her partner had been shot to death and she would be in danger if returned to Mexico. Her brother also expressed concern for his safety in Mexico, Postmedia News said.
In a last-ditch appeal, Garcia's lawyers argued it would be unfair to send him home halfway through the school year at Parkdale Collegiate. A judge disagreed, supporting immigration officials.
No One Is Illegal posted a statement on its Web site: "At 8:30 a.m. this morning, Daniel Garcia unwillingly boarded a plane to Mexico City. The new year begins with a hole in the Parkdale community and in our hearts."
http://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2011/01/01/Mexican-teen-deported-from-Canada/UPI-66571293938501/
Jan. 1, 2011
TORONTO, Jan. 1 (UPI) -- A Mexican youth who said he feared returning to his homeland was deported from Canada Saturday, a day after a judge rejected his appeal, an advocacy group said.
No One Is Illegal said Daniel Garcia, 18, who came to Canada three years ago with his older sister, was put on a plane in Toronto, the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. said.
Garcia's sister, Brenda, 30, was returned to Mexico Monday. She had asked for asylum in Canada on the grounds she faced persecution in Mexico as a lesbian. She said her partner had been shot to death and she would be in danger if returned to Mexico. Her brother also expressed concern for his safety in Mexico, Postmedia News said.
In a last-ditch appeal, Garcia's lawyers argued it would be unfair to send him home halfway through the school year at Parkdale Collegiate. A judge disagreed, supporting immigration officials.
No One Is Illegal posted a statement on its Web site: "At 8:30 a.m. this morning, Daniel Garcia unwillingly boarded a plane to Mexico City. The new year begins with a hole in the Parkdale community and in our hearts."
http://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2011/01/01/Mexican-teen-deported-from-Canada/UPI-66571293938501/
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