Palestinian-Jordanian Refugee Claimant Detained & Facing Deportation

Tuesday October 21st, 2003
Take action against the inhumane detention and pending deportation of Mariam Ahmad and her 3 year old baby

The harassment and inhumane actions of Immigration Officers against a single mother and her 3 year old baby with a heart condition are unacceptable and revolting.

Monday October 20th, 2003 Montreal --- Four officers of Citizenship & Immigration Canada stormed the home of Mariam Ahmad, a Palestinian-Jordanian refugee claiment, forcibly detaining her and her 3 year old baby Janah at Montreal's Laval Detention Center. Janah, Ms. Ahmad's daughter, was born in Canada and holds Canadian citizenship. Janah also suffers from a heart condition, and is scheduled for further tests at St. Justine Childrens Hospital in Montreal this coming month.

Upon the arrival of the Citizenship and Immigration officers at Ms. Ahmad home, a terrified and panicky Ms. Ahmad refused to open the door for the immigration officers who eventually forced their way into her home, grabbed her and her frightened baby against their will, taking them to Laval Detention Center where they remain incarcerated. Mariam Ahmad's two other young boys, ages 12 & 18, were in school at the time of the incident, coming home and discovering that their mother and baby sister had been forcibly detained by Citizenship & Immigration Canada (CIC).

CIC is threatening Mariam Ahmad the Palestinian-Jordianian refugee claiment and her 3 year old Canadian baby with deportation to the U.S as early as tomorrow morning, with or without her two other children, where she will continue to be in limbo and without status. Moreover, they have threatened her two other children that if they do not present themselves at the Montreal offices of Citizenship and Imigration Canada at 1010 St. Antoine West, they will be left behind while their mother and baby sister are deported to the U.S.

Currently Mariam Ahmad's two young sons are staying at an unknown location, in fear of being forcibly detained by immigration officers. Both have been withdrawn from school, and are living in fear of what will come next for their family and themselves. Moreover, Ms. Ahmad's Immigration agent Nadia Jarwa continues to harass family members and friends, including calling Ms. Ahmad's sister pretending to be someone else, in search of the two young children attempting to trick them into detention.

It is unacceptable and revolting that Citizenship and Immigration Canada officers stormed the home of a Palestinian-Jordanian refugee claiment, who is a single mother of three and are holding a 3 year old Canadian baby, who suffers from a heart condition, in detention. These acts of detaining a mother and young child, and separating the two other young children from their mother are inexcusable!

Please act now to end the detention and to stop the pending deportation of Mariam Ahmad and her young daughter, Janah.

CALL THE FOLLOWING TWO OFFICALS AT CITIZENSHIP & IMMIGRATION CANADA:

---> Nadia Jarwa, Mariam Ahmad's Deportation Officer: (514) 283.5977
---> Rene D'Aoust, Director of Investigations and Removals: (514) 496.1238

WHEN YOU CALL, DEMAND THE FOLLOWING THREE THINGS:

1) Mariam Ahmad and her 3 year old daughter not be deported to the U.S
2) That Mariam Ahmad and her 3 year old daughter are released from Laval Detention Center.
3) Grant Mariam Ahmad and her children a stay of deportation to allow a judicial review of her Humanitarian Claim to be examined.

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---> Background on Mariam Ahmad

Mariam Ahmad claimed refugee status upon her arrival to Canada over three years ago, where she gave birth to a Canadian baby, Janah. She came as a single mother of three who is fleeing abuse in Jordan, claming refugee status in Canada as a Palestinian-Jordanian refugee. Ms. Ahmad and her family further also applied for immigration under humanitarian and compassionate grounds and were recently refused.

The processes the family went through with Citizenship & Immigration Canada were lengthy, stressful and humiliating. Ms. Ahmad was told by different immigration agents at different times that her Humanitarian and Compassionate Claim would be examined, and then told that it would not be. After a lot of back and forth, Immigration agents rejected the Refugee and Humanitarian Claims of Ms. Ahmad without giving her or her lawyer clear reasons for the rejection, thus creating more confusion.

As her lawyer was seeking reasons for the rejection preparing the ground work to file for a judicial review, Immigration officers, under the pretext that she constitutes a flight risk, stormed her house, detained her and her young baby, and threatened to leave her two other young children alone in Canada.

For more Information Contact No One is Illegal
Email: noon...@tao.ca
Phone: 514.591.3171