IT’S high time the federal government woke up and faced the CRUEL reality of what they are doing in cases of illegal immigrants or refugee claimants who are allowed to stay in Canada for years and then deported, leaving behind Canadian wives and kids. Such separation is an affront to human dignity and decency.
However, if the government finds out about illegal immigrants only after they have already lived secretly in Canada for a long time, then that is another matter. In that case, the illegal immigrants and their supporters have only themselves to blame. Yet even in those cases, we shouldn’t overlook the humaneness factor as long as they have not committed any serious crime in Canada.
This week there was a report in the media about Salvadoran refugee Jose Figueroa Sr. who has taken refuge in a Langley church. A federal court judge stayed an order to deport him to El Salvador by the Canadian Border Services Agency.
The guy has been living in Canada for 16 years and has a wife and three Canadian-born kids. The family intends to ask the federal government to allow them to stay here on compassionate or humanitarian grounds.
As far as taking sanctuary in a church or any other place of worship is concerned, that is one thing that MUST NOT be allowed. I have always been against that. This can become one big racket.
If the government agencies do not have enough staff to track down illegal immigrants and illegal workers, then they should recruit more people. Because I have met so many of them over the past 15 years, I know, for example, that restaurants across the Lower Mainland hire international students as dishwashers and clean-up staff illegally as they pay them less than the minimum wage. Those students then introduce them to other students who want work so that they can pay for their stay in Canada. The whole system is one big mess!
Another issue is that of proving that a refugee’s life would or would not be in danger if they were deported to their own country. In the case of this Salvadoran refugee, the government argues that he once belonged to a rebel group that was elected as the government after a UN-sponsored peace deal and there is no evidence that “irreparable harm” would come to him if he now went back.
Here’s a counter-argument: What if his former right-wing enemies still want to take revenge on him? We all know how lawless Latin American countries are.
This guy wasn’t involved in any violent activity in El Salvador and apparently he hasn’t committed any serious crime in Canada.
So if he has been allowed to stay so long in Canada and has three kids who were born here, he – and others like him – should be allowed to stay as far as I am concerned.
– RATTAN MALL
EditorAsianJournal@gmail.com
