What happened to Alvaro?

On September 14, Alvaro Orozco was granted a stay on his deportation order, but it ended last Thursday, October 4. That was supposed to be his deportation date. I can't find any info on him... does anyone know what happened? I hope he's found a way to stay here.

Alvaro Orozco

My friend Bruce at Canuck Attitude has some outrageous news about another refugee claimant who's being allowed to stay, in spite of a criminal conviction... because he's going through a religious conversion. That's all good and well, except in Alvaro's case, there's no criminal charges involved and the difference between staying here or not might mean the difference between staying alive or not.

Sign the petition, email, but calling and/or writing your MP and writing to Immigration Minister Diane Finley would be even more effective. Alvaro's site has more information.

Alvaro Orozco

Alvaro Orozco, the gay Nicaraguan refugee who's been ordered deported because he couldn't "prove" he is gay, goes to the Immigration Office today to pick up his rejection letter. A couple of things might happen:

(1) He could be arrested and put on a plane on the spot -- not acceptable;
(2) He could be given time to fight the rejection -- also not acceptable, but better than (1).

Still, it buys a little time during which it might be possible to persuade Immigration to let him stay. Support is needed badly, and we can all help by signing the petition, writing to Diane Findlay, Minister of Immigration at Finley.D@parl.gc.ca and asking that Alvaro be granted a stay, and visiting Alvaro's website. Slap Upside the Head has more information.

This poor kid's been on the run for years. Surely as a world leader in human rights, Canada can offer him a safe home.

Be a hero (again)

What to do, what to do on this fine Friday... how about rescuing someone?

Mark at Slap Upside The Head has the latest on the plight of Alvaro Orozco, the 21-year-old Nicaraguan refugee claimant who fled to Canada because he was being beaten for the crime of -- you guessed it -- being gay (which incidentally really is a crime in Nicaragua). His case has been dismissed and he's been ordered deported, because he couldn't prove he was gay.(??!) I know, I know. That could be the subject of a whole post itself. But there are more important things right now: there is a way we can help, by going to Alvaro's website (scroll down for contacts) and sending a letter of protest to the Minister of Immigration.

In case you think you can't help, let me take this opportunity to remind you of little Kevin, who was stuck in jail in Texas. So many bloggers and people everywhere pulled together and protested that a few weeks later he was on his way home. So we can do this, we've done it once to bring someone home, let's do it again to keep someone safe here, in his new home.