Posted by admin on Apr 23rd, 2008
CBC. Published: Wednesday, April 23, 2008 | 3:18 PM ET
TORONTO – A Roma refugee terrified of being sent back to Hungary remained in hiding Wednesday while his distraught wife and teenaged son appealed to the federal justice minister to reconsider his extradition. Ottawa has ordered Adolf Horvath, 51, deported to stand trial on what his family claims are trumped up fraud and extortion charges motivated
by his ethnic origins. Fearing extradition was imminent, Horvath vanished five weeks ago.
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Posted by admin on Apr 17th, 2008
Feds plan to expand DNA database By Ellen Nakashima and Spencer Hsu. The Washington Post. Wed., April. 16, 2008
The U.S. government will soon begin collecting DNA samples from all citizens arrested in connection with any federal crime and from many immigrants detained by federal authorities, adding genetic identifiers from more than 1 million individuals a year to the swiftly growing federal law enforcement DNA database. The policy will substantially expand the current practice of routinely collecting DNA samples from only those convicted of federal crimes, and it will build on a growing policy among states to collect DNA from many people who are arrested. Thirteen states do so now and turn their data over to the federal government.
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Posted by admin on Apr 16th, 2008
Update from the Freedom for Ivan Committee
Thursday, 17 April, is political prisoner’s day. In Montreal, Ivan Apaolaza Sancho – a 36 year old Basque refugee claimant and political prisoner – has been in detention for over ten months. Ivan is accused of having been a member of the ETA (an armed nationalist Basque organization); an accusation that he denies. He has been detained at Rivière des prairies Detention Centre since June 2007 and faces deportation solely on the basis of accusations made by the Spanish state; no actual evidence to support the allegations has been presented. Moreover, the allegations themselves seem to come from a confession obtained under torture (see below). If the Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB) Commissioner accepts
those allegations, Ivan faces deportation to Spain where he expects further arbitrary detention and possible torture.
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Posted by admin on Apr 14th, 2008
April 14, 2008. Nicholas Keung. Immigration/Diversity Reporter
Joaquin Ramirez is afraid to be sent home to his native El Salvador and face the three police officers that he claims raped him in a sugarcane field two years ago. The 39-year-old HIV-positive man said the accused perpetrators have visited his family and threatened to kill him because he infected them with the virus that causes AIDS. But the story of Ramirez, a closeted gay man, hasn’t impressed Canada’s Immigration and Refugee Board or a border service removal officer, who asked why he didn’t ask authorities back home for protection.
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Posted by admin on Mar 28th, 2008
Watch media coverage of demonstration here
TORONTO- Shaken by the outrage of protestors who poured into York University’s Vary Hall on Wednesday, Immigration Canada was forced to grant Sarah (Saint-Sierra) Leonty a 2 year stay in Canada while her Humanitarian and Compassionate Application is processed. Sarah’s mother and two younger siblings slated for deportation yesterday, had their deportation cancelled and were also granted a 2 year stay. The crowd consisted of students and faculty from York, U of T and Ryerson all demanding that Sarah be allowed to stay. Student and labour unions, along with faculty and community organisations took to the mic calling on York University to declare itself a sanctuary school to be free of Immigration Enforcement. Amidst chants, echoing “Education, Not Deportation! Access Not Fear” and “Status for Sarah! Status for All!” University President Shoukri was pressured to issue a statement in support of this case.
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