‘Stateless’ Budlakoti appeals conditions
Deepan Budlakoti, who was born in Canada but is not a citizen, appealed to the Immigration and Refugee Board on Monday to ease bail restrictions while he fights to stay in Canada.
Budlakoti says the conditions imposed on him in April 2013 after spending almost four months in immigration detention are jaillike.
Restrictions include that he regularly report to Canadian Border Services Agency, that he not work “without proper authorization” and that he be available to appear on short notice at the request of immigration officials. Conditions were eased in 2014 but not removed entirely.
At the hearing held at the IRB in Montreal, Budlakoti told the Montreal Gazette that his situation is ridiculous.
Budlakoti, 26, was born in Ottawa, and has always lived in Canada. He has an Ontario birth certificate, and was issued both a Canadian passport and a social insurance number.
His parents, both Indian citizens, worked at the Indian High Commission in Canada. They’ve been Canadian citizens for the past 20 years. Children, however, born to foreign diplomatic staff do not automatically gain Canadian citizenship — something he only learned in 2010, after being sentenced to three years in prison for weapons and cocaine trafficking.
Budlakoti was ordered deported to India in 2011, based on his “serious criminality.” But India refused to take him because he is not recognized as an Indian resident.
Budlakoti says his bail conditions infringe on multiple sections of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
“You do your time, you pay your debt to society, and then you get out, and then you get doubly punished again for the same crime,” he told the Montreal Gazette.
“And then on top of that you feel you’re incarcerated, essentially, or on bail, for an indefinite amount of time … having conditions, when I cannot be deported, when I was born and raised in Canada, I find it ridiculous in itself.”
An IRB decision is expected Friday.