Couples split by asylum outcomes
Some families are facing forced separation despite pending spousal sponsorship
Nikoletta Notar and Gergo Balogh had been childhood friends in Hungary before they reconnected in Toronto in 2010 after their families, both Roma minorities, separately fled to Canada for asylum.
Although Balogh, his parents and two younger sisters were deported from Canada in 2013 after their refugee claim was denied, Notar and her family were accepted and became permanent residents.
Not only did the young couple stay in touch, Balogh again fled Hungary and returned to Canada last spring after he was allegedly twice attacked by baton-totting far-right extremists in Miskolc.
Balogh, 23, and Notar, 27, got married in Toronto last May and now are proud parents of 5-month-old Nicole. Although the couple’s spousal sponsorship application is still in process, in March, Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) booked Balogh for deportation. He is scheduled to be removed from Canada on Wednesday.
“We were just so shocked. I am so distraught and anxious that I’ve lost my ability to breastfeed Nicole,” Notar said. “Gergo has not broken any law. He always reports to the border services. This is so unnecessary. Why do they want to separate our family?”
Refugee lawyers say they are seeing a growing number of deportation cases where a failed refugee claimant is being removed from Canada, even if the person has a pending permanent residence application with the spouse, who is granted asylum in a separate claim.
“Deportation of the spouse or dependant child of a United Nations Convention refugee is a grave violation of international law . . . it is troubling that the CBSA would argue against a stay of deportation in the court and any deportation would be carried out,” said Raoul Boulakia of the Refugee Lawyers’ Association of Ontario.
“It is shocking this happened in a series of cases in the last month, and deplorable that the people targeted were all Roma.”
The border agency said 365 individuals were deported to Hungary in 2016 but it does not have figures on how many of the deportees had their permanent residence applications with their spouses pending.
CBSA spokesperson Nicholas Dorion said the decision to remove someone from Canada is not taken lightly, and the law requires removal orders be enforced as soon as possible — something that he said the agency is committed to.
“Everyone ordered removed from Canada is entitled to due process before the law and all removal orders are subject to various levels of appeal. Once individuals have exhausted all legal avenues, they are expected to respect our laws and leave Canada or be removed,” Dorion said.
“Permanent residence, humanitarian and compassionate and sponsorship application do not stay a removal.”
Immigration lawyer Richard Wazana said there have also been asylum cases where a family makes one claim but only one parent is approved and the other is refused. However, everyone in the family would still be under the permanent residence application of the person who was accepted.
“CBSA has this policy of deporting the family members who are refused, making them return to the country of persecution, where they could be at risk, and waiting for the family member in Canada’s permanent resident application to be processed. It can easily take two years for the family to be reunited in Canada,” Wazana said.
“This is outrageous and has to stop. Canada speaks a good line when it comes to bringing refugee families here, but is separating refugee families despite the fact that part of the family is found to be at risk in their country. It’s removal for the sake of removal.”
Gabor Lakatos, 34, is facing deportation to Hungary even though his wife, Rozalij, and their adopted son, Janos, were both granted asylum last year and are waiting for their permanent residence application to come through.
“It’s been really stressful for all of us. We couldn’t sleep. My wife and my son need me around,” said Lakatos, whose scheduled removal was recently stayed by the federal court after the immigration minister’s office agreed to grant him a new prere- moval risk assessment to see if his life would be at risk if deported back to Hungary.
Immigration lawyer Peter Ivanyi said the trend of CBSA’s hurried removals of refugees with pending permanent residence with their accepted spouses is worrisome.
“These removals serve no purpose except to enforce the act,” Ivanyi said. “In fact, this forces the remaining parties to seek welfare since the source of support is being deported. It’s strange for the Liberal government to be harsher on such family separation cases than the previous government.”
As for Notar and Balogh, their lawyer Jordan Duviner said the husband has an outstanding humanitarian and a pending spousal sponsorship, as well as a court application to review an earlier CBSA assessment that deemed him safe to return to Hungary.
“I am not sure what we can possibly put in front of CBSA that would defer” his deportation, Duviner said.
“To separate the family would be an inhumane and senseless measure, given how close the family is to having the realities of their case fully assessed.”