Stop the Deportation of Lucy Granados, Montreal Community Organizer for the Rights of Undocumented Women!
MONTREAL COMMUNITY ORGANIZER FOR THE RIGHTS OF UNDOCUMENTED WOMEN, LUCY FRANCINETH GRANADOS, FACES DEPORTATION – HELP US JAM THE LINES TO STOP HER DEPORTATION
https://www.facebook.com/events/209485126474388/
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. 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 could take place very soon, even tomorrow, so 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:
- Call or write Immigration Minister Ahmed Hussen (dial 613-995-0777 <(613)%20995-0777>, 613-954-1064 <(613)%20954-1064> and 416-656-2526 <(416)%20656-2526> or write to Ahmed.Hussen@parl.gc.ca and minister@cic.gc.ca) and Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale (call 613-947-1153 <(613)%20947-1153>, 306-585-2202 <(306)%20585-2202> and 613-991-2924 <(613)%20991-2924>, 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.
- 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.
- 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
- 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.
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MARCH 28 UPDATE: Despite the rapid deterioration of her physical and mental health while in detention, where isolation continues to exacerbate the harm caused by CBSA, the Refugee Board decided not to release Lucy at her detention review hearing today. No new deportation date was announced, but a deportation could take place very soon, even tomorrow.
Remaining in detention, and in this state of uncertainty about her deportation, will only make Lucy’s health more precarious. She has been detained for 8 days now, since her arrest on March 20th. Lack of sleep, fear, confusion and her conditions in detention following her violent arrest are what led to Lucy’s emergency hospitalization on the 26th. The emotional stress that Lucy is experiencing is only aggravated by the isolation of her imprisonment. All of this compounds her previous health problems.
The Federal Immigration and Public Safety Ministers (Ahmed Hussen and Ralph Goodale) have not yet agreed to intervene but have her file in their hands and are constantly receiving updates.
There will be a press conference tomorrow (Thursday, March 29th) at noon, at the Fédération des Femmes du Québec (469 Jean Talon W, métro Parc) to provide more information on her health and to denounce the horrible treatment she has endured.
We are calling on supporters to attend the press conference, to continue contacting Hussen and Goodale’s office, to contact their MPs, to organize autonomous actions, and keep the pressure going to stop Lucy’s deportation.
MORE INFO: https://bit.ly/2GrwsZk
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Solidarité sans frontières www.solidaritesansfrontieres.org
Solidarity Across Borders www.solidarityacrossborders.org
Solidaridad sin fronteras www.solidarityacrossborders.org/es
e-mail: solidaritesansfrontieres@gmail.com
facebook: www.facebook.com/CiteSansFrontieres
twitter: @SolidariteMTL <https://twitter.com/SolidariteMTL>
tél.: 438-933-7654
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