NULL
Stateless Palestinian Refugee is now in a US jail, eventually to be
deported to the refugee camp!
Denounce the deportation of Ahmad Nafaa, demand his return to Canada!
December 1. 2004– Tuesday morning, Ahmad Nafaa was deported from Canada
to the United States. Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) and the
Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA) turned Ahmad over to the U.S.
Immigration and Naturalization Services (INS), who immediately locked
him up in the Clinton County Jail in Northern New York. All of this
occurred despite the week-long efforts of the Coalition Against the
Deportation of Palestinian Refugees and allies, who had been working,
since Ahmad was detained on November 23, to prevent his deportation. The
night before Ahmad was deported, friends went to visit him in the Laval
detention center, Ahmad was very afraid of what is awaiting him in the
US and felt that his last hope for living a life in peace and dignity
was being crushed in those few hours. Ahmad removed a map of Palestine
from his necklace and gave it to a friend for fear of being harassed in
the US by immigration officials or in the US jail.
At this moment, Ahmad is being transferred from the Clinton County Jail
to the INS detention center near Buffalo, NY. The situation he faces in
the US, in addition to the injustice of an arbitrary detention, is
difficult and dangerous. It is unlikely that the US will not eventually
deport him back to the 56-year-old Palestinian refugee camp of Ein El
Helweh in Lebanon, back to a life of statelessness and a life void of
all fundamental civil and human rights. It is crucial to recall that
occurs against the background of the Canadian government?s continued
support of Israel and the illegal occupation of Palestine.
Ahmad will probably be found ineligible to claim asylum as a refugee in
the US. US immigration law imposes a one year time limit for the filing
of a refugee claim, and the time starts running at the moment the
claimant first enters the country. Because Ahmad first entered the US,
on his way to Canada, in 2001, that time period has expired. He can
apply for a ‘Withholding from Removal’, but the standards applied to
such an application are much higher than for a refugee claim, and it
does not confer the same status. The acceptance rates in the US for both
types of claims are disturbingly low. Even if Ahmad is released from
detention during the time that his claims are processed, he will not be
eligible for a work permit for six months.
While Ahmad was being forced into this situation by CIC and the CBSA,
the Minister of Immigration Canada, Judy Sgro, ignored a wide variety of
efforts to convince her to stop Ahmad?s deportation. Several members of
Parliament, including Bill Siksay (NDP), Meille Faille (Bloc), and Alexa
McDonough (NDP), personally pressured the Minister to review Ahmad’s
file and stay his deportation. On Monday morning, Bill Siksay asked the
following question in Parliament: ?Could the Prime Minister assure us
that Canada will live up to its obligations under the UN Convention on
the Reduction of Statelessness and, given his personal commitment to the
protection of Palestinians, will he ensure that stateless Palestinian
refugees are not deported from Canada?? Over the past week, the Minister
and several high-level bureaucrats in CIC received thousands of faxes,
phone calls and emails explaining Ahmad’s situation and demanding a stay
of deportation. Despite all of this, the Minister remained intransigent.
The Coalition organized four demonstrations in support of Ahmad, two in
front of Immigration Canada?s Montreal office, one at the Laval
detention center where Ahmad was being held, and one in front of the
Ministry of Citizenship & Immigration in Ottawa. The Coalition?s allies
in Toronto organized a demonstration at the riding offices of Minister
Sgro.
Several major media outlets, including the CBC, Radio Canada, La Presse,
Le Devoir, The Gazette and Global Television, provided extensive
coverage of these demonstrations and Ahmad’s plight. Journalists were
able to interview Ahmad over the weekend while he was in detention in
Laval. These interviews appeared on television and in the print media.
Still, Sgro, who was surely made aware of the extensive media coverage
and public awareness regarding Ahmad, refused to act.
For a sampling of the media coverage, visit the following:
http://radio-canada.ca/nouvelles/Index/nouvelles/200411/28/002-nafaa-lav
al.shtml
http://www.canada.com/montreal/montrealgazette/news/story.html?id=e485c8
88-9dd2-492c-a26b-f66479a64fb5
http://radio-canada.ca/regions/Montreal/nouvelles/200411/29/009-DEPORTAT
IONPALESTINIEN.shtml
http://www.cyberpresse.ca/actualites/article/article_complet.php?path=/a
ctualites/article/1,63,0,112004,852430.php
http://radio-canada.ca/regions/Montreal/nouvelles/200411/24/012-MANIFDEP
ORTATIONPALESTINEN.shtml
The Federal Court also failed to prevent this injustice. On Monday
afternoon, Judge Beaudry rejected an application for a stay of
deportation, which had been filed by Ahmad?s lawyer, Annick Legault. The
judge, incredibly, found that Ahmad would not face ?irreparable harm? if
deported to the US. One wonders what reparations Judge Beaudry would
therefore find adequate for the indignity and loss of liberty that Ahmad
has already suffered during just his first 24 hours in the US. Judge
Beaudry also denied the application on the grounds that Ahamd did not
have ?clean hands? because he had been living underground for over a
year before being detained (he way, as they say, ?illegal?). In essence,
the judge refused the application because Ahmad had been forced
underground in order to avoid deportation to the poverty and persecution
that are daily life in the refugee camps of Lebanon. This despite the
fact that the initial refusal of Ahmad?s refugee claim was clearly
unjust. A clear indication of that is that fact that his own brother,
who has exactly the same case, was granted refugee status in Canada and
is allowed to stay simply because a different Immigration & Refugee
Board member heard his case.
The Coalition is now organizing to arrange to pay a $10,000 (USD) bond
so that Ahmad may be released from detention while he awaits his
virtually guaranteed deportation back to Lebanon.
PLEASE CALL, FAX and EMAIL THE MINISTER OF IMMIGRATION
We ask you to again write, call or email the Removal Officer in this
case and the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, expressing your
outrage and disgust at the failure of the government to prevent this
gross injustice.
WHEN YOU CALL, DEMAND FROM CITIZENSHIP & IMMIGRATION:
1) To accept Ahmad Nafaa?s humanitarian and compassionate grounds
application, which was filed over 6 months ago, so that he may return to
Canada.
2) To stop the deportation and regularize the status of the Stateless
Palestinian refugees who are facing deportation from Canada.
For more information, contact the Coalition Against the Deportation of
Palestinian Refugees:
Email: refugees@riseup.net
Phone: 514.591.3171
http://refugees.resist.ca
———————-
Removal Officer
Ludmilla St-Saveur
Agent d’execution de la loi-CBSA
1010 rue St-Antoine
Phone: 496-2683
Fax: 496-1882
Judy Sgro
Minister of Citizenship and Immigration Canada
CIC National Headquarters
365 Laurier, Jean Edmonds South Tower, 21st Floor
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 1L1
Fax: (613) 947-8319
Phone: (613) 954-1064
Minister@cic.gc.ca
Sgro.J@parl.gc.ca
RE : STATELESS PALESTINIAN REFUGEE AHMAD NAFAA (4277-4326)
Honourable Judy Sgro,
December 1 2004 – AHMAD NAFAA has been deported from Canada to the
United States, and after being locked in the Clinton County Jail, he is
being transferred to an INS detention center. We, therefore,
respectfully request that, as Citizenship and Immigration Minister,
immediately accept his application for permanent residence on
compassionate and humanitarian grounds so that he may return to Canada.
The Canadian government has already failed Mr. Nafaa once, by failing to
stop his unjust deportation, and the only way to remedy that wrong is to
allow Mr. Nafaa to return to Canada as soon as possible.
Mr. Nafaa was born a stateless Palestinian in Ein El-Hilweh refugee camp
in Lebanon. Fear, poverty and persecution are daily facts of life in the
Ein El-Hilweh camp, and the present and future are grim for resident
Palestinians. They are banned from an ever-expanding number of trades
and professions. Unemployment among them, as a result, is extremely
high. Poverty rates are also astronomical. The restrictions on new
construction within the camp means its residents are forced to live in
dilapidated, hopelessly abject housing. All these factors lead to a
situation so bleak for Palestinians that suicide in the camp is an
everyday tragedy.
After 24 years in the camp and suffering its endemic racism,
discrimination, fear, violence and poverty, Mr. Nafaa fled Lebanon and
claimed refugee status in Canada. His claim was denied on February 20,
2002. On the other hand, his brother Mohammad?s refugee claim, heard by
a different member of the refugee board, was accepted.
Since arriving in Canada, Mr. Nafaa has become fully integrated in
Canadian and Quebec society. He has been reunited with his brother, and
they have renewed their close family ties. Mr. Nafaa currently works
full-time in a restaurant and is a self-sufficient and contributing
member of his community. He dreams of returning to school and finishing
the nursing degree he began in Lebanon. After suffering for so many
years as a refugee, his greatest desire is to alleviate the suffering of
others. In every sense, Mr. Nafaa has found a home in Canada.
Ahmad Nafaa now faces deportation from the U.S. to the refugee camps of
Lebanon, where the conditions faced by Palestinians are dangerous,
degrading and, beyond dispute, in clear violation of international law.
This situation, over half-a-century old, is directly related to the
statelessness of Palestinians. Because of their unique situation,
Palestinians have been denied not only rights accorded ordinary citizens
but also genuine access to the international system for the protection
of refugees. The fact that Mr. Nafaa?s immediate deportation was to the
United States does not materially affect his plight. Eventual
deportation to his country of origin is virtually automatic.
In signing the United Nations Convention on the Reduction of
Statelessness in 1978, the government of Canada championed the cause of
stateless refugees. If Canada allows Mr. Nafaa to return to Lebanon, it
would be abdicating that noble responsibility. The Minister of
Citizenship and Immigration must therefore act now to grant Mr. Nafaa,
and the other stateless Palestinian refugees facing deportation from
Canada, permanent residence on humanitarian and compassionate grounds,
pursuant to s. 25(1) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act.
We thank you for your attention and efforts in this urgent matter.
Sincerely,
(YOUR NAME, ADDRESS)
CC:
-Office of the Prime Minister of Canada: pm@pm.gc.ca, Fax: 613-941-6900
-Michel Dorais, Deputy Minister CIC: Fax: (613) 954-3509 or (613)
954-5448
-Ren? D?Aoust: Director Investigation & Removal: Phone: (514) 496-1238,
Fax: (514) 496-1882
-Monique Leclair, Director General: CIC QC Regional Office: Fax: (514)
496-3976
-Andrew Telegdi, P.C. (Chair of Standing Committee on Citizenship &
Immigration): telega@parl.gc.ca
– Bill Siksay, MP (NDP – Immigration): siksay.b@parl.gc.ca
– Meili Faille, MP (Bloc Qu?b?cois – Immigration): Faille.M@parl.gc.ca
