Hamilton parents narrowly escape deportation to Colombia after outpouring of community support

A Hamilton couple has narrowly avoided deportation to Colombia after a week-long ordeal that started with their unexpected arrest, separation from their three daughters, including one with disabilities, and detention. 

Andrea Pardo Rodriguez and her husband Nelson Martinez Mora's deportation order was cancelled Saturday, said their friend Cynthia Belaskie, who spoke on behalf of the family, one day before they had expected to be sent back.

After Saturday's hearing, Belaskie and the couple's daughters, Valentina, 22, Camila, 26 and Jessica, 27, visited them at the Immigration Holding Centre near Toronto's Pearson International Airport.

"It was incredibly emotional," Belaskie told CBC Hamilton. "We all burst into tears. We had Plexiglass between us and had to talk through a phone, but you could feel the relief." 

CBC Hamilton shared the family's story last week. 

In Colombia, Pardo Rodriguez had helped people living with disabilities and became well known for raising awareness about the discrimination they face. She said because of this work, she received death threats from the paramilitary group Gaitanist Self-Defense Forces of Colombia. 

Parents' refugee claim was denied

Pardo Rodriguez and Martinez Mora fled to Canada and claimed refugee status in 2021. Their daughters joined them in Hamilton late last year and Camila, who is blind and has an intellectual disability, was finally reunited with her mother, who is her primary caregiver. 

Less than a month later, in January, Pardo Rodriguez and Martinez Mora learned their application was rejected by the Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB) of Canada. The IRB panel concluded the couple had failed to establish they would be persecuted if they returned to Colombia.

Pardo Rodriguez and Martinez Mora were then under the impression their lawyer had submitted a new application for refugee status on humanitarian and compassionate grounds and that a deportation date had been deferred.

But on March 19, six people, who the family assumed were agents with the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA), came to their Hamilton apartment and arrested Pardo Rodriguez and Martinez Mora. The daughters soon learned their parents were set to be deported in one week, on March 26.

Their cousin Lianis Solangie Poveda Mora lives in the same building and in an interview last week recounted what happened afterward.

"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 said in 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."

Petition garnered over 1,000 signatures

Late last week, the family retained a new immigration lawyer, Kareem Ibrahim, who secured a stay of their deportation order. 

He told CBC Hamilton on Monday the couple will need to "regularize" their status in Canada so they don't face deportation in the future. If the deportation process were to resume, it would start from the beginning with three interviews with CBSA before a new date is set. 

Belaskie said the couple have a hearing on Tuesday to determine if they'll be released from the holding centre on bond. 

She said the family's received an outpouring of support from the community, including over 1,000 signatures on an online petition and dozens of messages from people asking how they can help.

"It is remarkable," Belaskie said. "I've never been prouder to be a Hamiltonian."