Couple facing deportation to Colombia have 3 daughters in Hamilton, including 1 with disabilities

The family was jolted awake by loud banging at the front door.

Andrea Pardo Rodriguez,her husband Nelson Martinez Mora and their daughtersemerged from their bedrooms Sunday morning, still in their pyjamas,and opened the door.

The couple andValentina, 22,Camila, 26, and Jesica Martinez Pardo, 27,were shocked to see six people, dressed inplainclothes,in the hallway of their Hamiltonapartment, Valentinalater told CBC Hamilton in Spanish.

Pardo Rodriguez, 45,and Martinez Mora, 48,have been in Canada since 2021 as refugee claimants.

The six people, who the family assumed wereagents with theCanada Border Services Agency (CBSA), were let in and askedfor the parents, said Jesica.

None of the sixspoke Spanishand theColombianfamily speakslittle English.

According to the daughters, none of the people they believed were CBSA officerspresented identification;theyused a cellphone totranslate the messagethat their parents were being detained.The daughters alsoasked if Camila, who is blind and has an intellectual disability, could go with her parents, but they were told no.

The couple was allowed to change into regular clothes before they were put in handcuffs, the daughters said.They said they were given a small slip of paper with the address of the Immigration Holding Centre in Toronto, and then watched, tears streaming down their faces, as their parents were taken away.

"It's hard for me seeing my parents in that situation...We came here with the hope of being together," Valentina said two days later. "Seeing my sister [Camila] really breaks my heart, because I don't think we're bad people. We're here looking for our well-being and leave behind all theseproblems."

Camila is attached to her mother, Valentina said.Their cousin,Lianis Solangie Poveda Mora, who lives in the same building, recounted how Jesica,the eldest daughter, came to her soon after, crying andtelling her their parents had been taken.

"Camila was uncontrollable. We didn't know what to do. She couldn't stop crying because she depends on her mom and dad for everything she does,"Poveda Mora saidin Spanish."Her mom is the one who serves her food, cools it down for her, walks with her by the hand, everything. Her mom is her shadow."

Parents feared for their lives in Colombia: docs

In Bogota, Pardo Rodriguezwas a leader with Iurazoli, a non-profit organization thathelps people living with disabilities, said a letter written bythe group's legal representative in 2021 and included in the documents filed as part of herrefugee claim.

In therole, Pardo Rodriguezbecame well known in the local human rights community and forraising awareness about the discrimination faced by people with disabilities, the letter said.

The paramilitary group Gaitanist Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AGC) targeted Iurazoli, leaving threatening messages on social media.

AGC also called Pardo Rodriguez's work and personal phones, and threatened to kill her, according to a crime report she filed with Colombia's Officer of the Attorney General in 2020. The report wasshared with CBC Hamilton.

"They say death to all fake social leaders and those who makethemselves believe they are human rights defenders," the report said.

Human Rights Watch described the AGC as continuing to commit "serious humanitarian rights abuses including killings, disappearances and rape."

Across Colombia, more than 500 human rights defenders were killed between 2016 and 2021, Human Rights Watch reported.

'They had a story that just broke my heart'

Fearing for the family's safety, Pardo Rodriguez and Martinez Mora fled to Canadawith the hopes their absence would make life safer for their daughters.

Cynthia Belaskie, managing director of McMaster University's Canadian Housing Evidence Collaborative, got to knowthe couple about a year ago when she hired them to do repairs and cleaning around her house.

"They had a story that just broke my heart," Belaskie told CBC Hamilton. "They thought, if they leave, the girls would be safer without a big target on their backs."

Belaskiesaid she hassupported the couple through the asylumprocess and questioned whether their case suffered from an "overwhelmed" immigration system.

The family'slawyer, Victoria Bruyn, said she was unable to comment on the casewithout the consent of her clients.

Daughters joined the family in Canada

While waiting for a decision from the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (IRB), Rodriguezand Mora'sdaughters decidedto join them in Canadain hopes of remaining there.

Valentina said the threats didn't stop when their parents left Colombia.

"This whole time, they've tried to follow us, stalk us, call us, even show up at the house where we used to live."

The three sistersspent two weeks travelling to join their parents by plane to Mexico, via train and by private vehicles across the U.S. border, and finally into Canada through an irregularcrossing inQuebec. They arrived in Hamilton justbefore Christmas 2022, and have started their own refugee claim that's separate from their parents.

In January,Pardo Rodriguez and Martinez Moralearnedtheir refugee application was rejected by the IRB.

Thepanel's written decision said there were discrepancies between the documents submitted and Pardo Rodriguez's testimony, concludingshe and her husbandhad failed to establish they would be persecuted if they returned to Colombia.

Before their arrest Sunday, Pardo Rodriguez and Martinez Morawere under the impression their lawyer had submitted an application for refugee status on humanitarian and compassionate grounds and that adeportation date had been deferred, Belaskiesaid.

However, at a hearing Tuesday, the pair were deniedbond and told they would be deported within days, on March 26, Belaskienoted.

The CBSAdoesn't comment on individual cases, said spokesperson Rebecca Purdy. She said generally speaking, the agency has a legal obligation to deport foreign nationals who have a removal order in force.

"The decision to remove someone from Canada is not taken lightly," Purdy said.

Once a person's humanitarian and compassionate grounds application is submitted, an immigration officer must also grant "Stage 1 approval" to put deportation on hold, said Purdy.

For their daughters, their only current option to see their parents is at the detention centre near Toronto's Pearson International Airport.

They visited them Sunday night, hours after their arrest,talkingto them through telephones, separated by a glass partition.

"We don't even get to hug them, and Camila, who needs a hug from her mom, can't get one," said Poveda Mora, the cousin.