Haligonians are joining the growing movement in support of Lucy Francineth Granados, a Montreal-based community organizer who was arrested, detained and faces the threat of being deported on Tuesday, March 27th.
Granados is a non-status woman of Guatemalan origin who has called Montreal home for the past nine years. She is a community organizer with the Non-Status Women’s Collective and ATTAP (Temporary Workers Assocation), as well as a single mother of three. On Tuesday, March 20th at 6am, she was violently arrested in her home by agents of the Canada Border Services Agency and is currently being held in the Laval Detention Centre in Quebec.
Granados submitted an application for permanent residence on Humanitarian and Compassionate grounds in September 2017, but she has yet to hear back. Last Friday, Granados filed an emergency application for a stay of deportation until her humanitarian application is determined.
Haligonians are joining a nationwide action calling on the Minister of Immigration Minister Ahmed Hussen and Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale to let Granados stay in Canada.
“Personally, I was appalled to hear about the violent way in which Lucy was arrested and about the unjust way that she is being treated by our government. The least I could do was call Minister Ahmed Hussen’s office to express my concerns and echo calls to let Lucy stay,” says Halifax resident Stacey Gomez.
She added: “We often hear about the violent and unjust immigrant policies in the US under Trump, though I think that many Canadians would be surprised to learn about what’s happening in their own country.”
Noe Arteaga, another Halifax resident and a friend of Granados, shares: “I first met Lucy in Montreal through her work as a community organizer. Lucy gave her time to help others who were in the same vulnerable situation as herself.”
As a migrant justice organizer and former temporary foreign worker, Arteaga is intimately familiar with Canada’s immigration system. He denounced Granados’ deportation and called for Canada to end all deportations. He asked, “Where is the humanitarianism that Canada purports?”
Another emblematic case is that of 23 year old young Abdoul Adbi, a former child refugee who grew up in Nova Scotia foster care, but could be deported to Somalia, a country he doesn’t know, because of Canada’s failure to apply for his citizenship at the time.
Cases such as that of Granados and Abdi have brought national attention on Canada’s poor treatment of immigrants and refugees in the country, and highlight the widespread appetite for change that exists.
More information on Granados’ case can be found here.
MEDIA LINKS
Advocacy group launches appeal for Guatemalan woman facing deportation
Press releases on Granados’ case
Let Lucy Stay!!
MONTREAL COMMUNITY ORGANIZER FOR THE RIGHTS OF UNDOCUMENTED WOMEN, LUCY FRANCINETH GRANADOS, FACES DEPORTATION ON TUESDAY – HELP US JAM THE LINES TO STOP HER DEPORTATION
https://www.facebook.com/events/209485126474388/
https://bit.ly/2GrwsZk
Our friend, our neighbour, and community organizer with the Non Status Women’s Collective and ATTAP (the Temporary Workers Association), Lucy Francineth Granados, has been targeted for deportation tomorrow. We need everyone to step up and to help us stop this from happening by jamming the line for Lucy! You can read more about her story below. Lucy’s deportation is scheduled for tomorrow, and it is urgent that we act now. Both the federal ministers of Immigration and Public Safety have the power to stop her deportation and regularize her status, so we have to make sure they know we will not accept losing Lucy!
How to support:
1. Call or write Immigration Minister Ahmed Hussen (dial 613-995-0777, 613-954-1064 and 416-656-2526 or write to Ahmed.Hussen@parl.gc.ca and minister@cic.gc.ca) and Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale (call 613-947-1153, 306-585-2202 and 613-991-2924, email ralph.goodale@parl.gc.ca and Hon.ralph.goodale@canada.ca):
Ask them:
– to stay Lucy’s deportation until her application for permanent residence on humanitarian grounds is decided;
– to investigate the actions of the CBSA agent who blackmailed Lucy and bring charges under IRPA 127 (a) and/or 129 (1) (a) as warranted;
– for an independent inquiry into the excessive force used by the 4 CBSA agents who arrested Lucy last Tuesday morning, injuring her arm.
2. Call, email or text your friends to tell them about Jam the Line for Lucy! Encourage them to help out because it could make the difference.
3. Share a solidarity image with Lucy on social media using the hashtags #LetLucyStay and #LucyDoitRester and tag Montreal Mayor Valerie Plante, Immigration Minister Ahmed Hussen and Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale.
On Twitter: @Val_Plante & @AhmedDHussen & @RalphGoodale
On Facebook: @MTL.ValeriePlante & @AhmedHussenLib & @ralphgoodale
4. Organize your own solidarity action or media stunt in your town or city to support Lucy’s campaign and send us / your local media a photo and report!
Not One More Deportation. Let Lucy Stay.
LUCY’S STORY
At 6am on March 20th, CBSA entered the home of Lucy Francineth Granados, a member of the Non Status Women’s Collective and ATTAP (Temporary Workers Association). The CBSA violently arrested Lucy, injuring her arm, and took her away before migrant justice activists arrived on the scene. The IRB refused to free Lucy on 22nd March. Lucy remains in Laval Detention Centre and faces deportation to Guatemala on March 27th.
Lucy is the sole financial support for her three children. They live in Guatemala with their grandmother and depend entirely on the remittances sent by their mother for all their basic needs (food, shelter, school fees, etc.). If Lucy were deported, her children would immediately lose their sole source of financial support.
After being threatened by the Maras, Lucy traveled alone through Mexico on the infamous La Bestia train to the US and later to Canada, her husband having died. Her refugee application was refused but she remained in Canada undocumented in order to be able to continue to support her children. She has lived in Montreal for 9 years.
Last summer, she filed a humanitarian application for permanent residence in an attempt to regularize her status. In January, a CBSA officer informed her lawyer that Lucy’s file would not be studied unless she turned herself in to face deportation. However, Canadian immigration law says that the Minister must study all humanitarian applications inside Canada; the CBSA officer illegally misrepresented the situation. Neither Immigration nor the CBSA have responded to her lawyer’s demand that the situation be clarified.
According to Immigration Canada information, her file is in fact being evaluated, and a response could normally be expected any week now if she is allowed to remain in Canada. Unless Minister of Public Safety Ralph Goodale intervenes to suspend the deportation, Immigration Minister Ahmed Hussen expedites processing of her file, or the City of Montreal takes its responsibility seriously, Lucy will likely be deported before her file is determined.
MORE INFO: https://bit.ly/2GrwsZk
Solidarity Across Borders: http://www.solidarityacrossborders.org
Absolutely disgusting. Keep Lucy here.