U.S. war deserter given another stay of removal
A Federal Court judge issued another temporary stay of removal Tuesday for a U.S. war deserter facing deportation from Canada, ruling immigration officials did not properly weigh whether she would face more severe prosecution for speaking out publicly against the Iraq war.
Rivera served in Iraq with the American military in 2006 and moved to Canada the following year after she refused deployment.
She arrived in the country from Texas with her husband and two children and gave birth to a third child in Canada in November 2008.
Her request to stay in Ontario on humanitarian and compassionate grounds was denied, but Rivera was granted a temporary stay of removal in March.
In his ruling Tuesday in Ottawa, Justice James Russell said an officer from Citizenship and Immigration Canada who performed a pre-removal risk assessment of Rivera did not consider whether she and other outspoken Iraq war objectors would face "targeted prosecution" based upon their political opinion.
"In my view, the officer’s failure to fully address the targeting issue, and the evidence that supports the applicants' position, renders the decision unreasonable and it must be returned for reconsideration," Russell wrote in his decision.
A new pre-removal risk assessment of Rivera could take up to four months, according to Ken Marciniec of the War Resisters Support Campaign.
Immigration Minister Jason Kenney's office said it was reviewing Russell's decision.
"I find it hard to believe the Obama administration persecutes its citizens," Kenney's spokesman Alykhan Velshi wrote in an email to CBC News on Tuesday.
Last June, the House of Commons passed a non-binding NDP motion to grant permanent residence status to American military deserters and their families. The Conservative government voted against the motion and has ignored it.
In an email to CBC News Tuesday evening, Liberal MP Gerard Kennedy said Kenney "continues to abuse his position as minister by substituting his personal opinions for public policy."
"Mr. Kenney knows full well that the American military continue the policy of stop-loss — compelling service after contracts have ended — and other forms of compulsion," Kennedy wrote.
"Most important, he is offside with the majority of Parliament and Canadians who believe conscientious resisters to the Iraq war should be able to become Canadian citizens."
There are an estimated 200 Iraq War resisters in Canada, according to their support groups.