Salvadoran refugee chooses sanctuary over deportation
LANGLEY, BC—José Figueroa cannot understand why the Canadian government wants to separate him from his family, his church, and the country he has lived in for 16 years, and send him back to his native El Salvador.
In early October, Figueroa sought and received sanctuary at Walnut Grove Lutheran Church in Langley, after the Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA) issued a warrant for his arrest pending an order to deport him on October 31.
Just two days before the deadline, Federal Court Justice Robert Hughes granted his request to postpone deportation pending the outcome of a judicial review of the order based on compassionate and humanitarian grounds. That hearing is set for January 15.
Hughes was unmoved by the arguments of a ministry of immigration lawyer opposing the request. "Here's a man who's been here for 16 years," he said. "Why can't the government wait three months?"
Figueroa says this is the best news he has had in a long time. "Actually, I wasn't expecting that kind of response from the Federal Court," he says. "I am happy, because this is giving me hope that there is some good in the system."
But the CBSA's arrest warrant still stands. That means if Figueroa were to leave the church, he risks being picked up and sent to a detention centre. It is a risk he does not plan to take. "I'd rather be here where I can still see my family," he says.
Figueroa and his wife, Ivania, entered Canada legally in 1997 as refugee claimants. Their three children were born here. Yet in 2010, he was denied permanent residency status.
At issue is his role in the FMLN (Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front), a leftist coalition that fought a 12-year civil war against El Salvador's ruling dictatorship.
The government alleges Figueroa was part of a terrorist organization. But he insists he was only a student recruiter for the movement, and took no part in the fighting, let alone commit any acts of terror.
"I just got a letter from Interpol stating that I do not have any links to any criminal organization in the world," he says.
Today Canada recognizes the FMLN as the democratically elected government of El Salvador. No country in the world, including Canada, considers it a terrorist entity.
Peter Edelmann, Figueroa's lawyer, told the court the government is being "fundamentally unreasonable." "There have been a number of times," he says, "when they could have resolved this case and for whatever reason decided not to."
Langley Conservative MP Mark Warawa says he is lobbying "vigorously" to convince either Public Safety minister Steven Blaney or Citizenship and Immigration minister Chris Alexander to exercise their discretion and allow Figueroa to stay in Canada.
"A similar ruling would have befallen Nelson Mandela, if he would have applied for permanent residency in Canada," says Warawa, "because of the technicality of his past involvement in the overthrow of a government."
Figueroa is not the only B.C. resident who has fled to a church to avoid deportation. Former Russian KGB agent Mikhail Lennikov has not been outside First Lutheran Church in Vancouver since June 2009—more than four-and-a-half years. He believes the moment he again steps on Russian soil, his life will be in danger.
"He's faring well," says pastor Lori-Anne Boutin-Crawford.
"There haven't been any changes in his situation, and we're still waiting for changes to come. He's a gift to our community, so we just wait with him and do what we can."
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