A man living in Canada’s largest and most diverse city, Toronto, will likely be soon be on his way back to El Salvador, a place where he hasn’t lived in 20 years. Rene Pacheco has status as a permanent resident in Canada but he does not have Canadian citizenship
In 2016 he was in jail on charges including attempted murder.
While in jail awaiting trial a Canada Border Services agent visited him, and heard him brag that he was a member of the notorious MS-13 gang.
He showed a “13” tattoo, and described in detail several facts about his particular “clique” in a Toronto neighbourhood.
The group MS-13 (Mara Salvatrucha) has been labelled as a notoriously violent street gang which began in Los Angeles and has since spread out to other American cities, Central America, and Canada. The U.S has declared it a transnational gang, while the U.S. Whitehouse in a fact sheet called them “violent animals”.
Candian law states that non-citizens who have committed serious crimes be removed from Canada and returned to their country of origin.
While the witness in his case later recanted, and Pacheco was convicted on only some minor charges the CBSA agent said that he should be deported as a member of a criminal organisation.
At an immigration hearing in 2017, Pacheco changed his story that he wasn’t a member, that 13 was simply his lucky number, but couldn’t explain the gang graffiti on his web page.
Gang experts testified that evidence pointed to his membership in the gang and he was deemed inadmissible to Canada.
He then appealed to Federal Court where last week the judge again ruled that the evidence seemed logical against him, leading to an order for deportation.
In another similar case, a convicted shooter, drug trafficker, and gang member has been ordered released into the community while he awaits papers for deportation to his native Iraq.
The Immigration Board rejected the CBSA arguments that 33-year-old Arim Ali would likely re-offend and be a danger to the public.
Canada has been trying to deport another man for 20 years, but as he is “stateless” he remains in Canada
Huong Dac Doan came to Canada as an infant of refugees fleeing Vietnam. He has been convicted of violent robbery and with connections to domestic and international Asian gangs.
He was first ordered deported in 1997, but Vietnam has refused to issue travel documents so Doan remains in Canada as one of many ordered deported but who benefit from legal limbo.
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