Markens Appolon fled Haiti to escape gang violence and planned to join family in Montreal. After four and a half months in a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility, he fears his mental health will continue to deteriorate and that conditions will be worse even if he is released. He sought refugee protection in Canada, expecting eligibility for asylum due to Canadian family and the Safe Third Country Agreement exception. Canadian officials instead handed him to ICE, which immigration lawyers describe as shocking. Lawyers report many similar cases since Donald Trump’s second term. Refugees attempt asylum in Canada under an exception to the agreement, but legal experts argue the US is not a safe third country due to long-term detention and threats of deportation to places where people may be harmed or killed. Canada has also tightened its asylum system with March legislation that adds new ineligibility rules.
"As each day in US detention passes, Markens Appolon can feel the life he had dreamed of slipping away. The 25-year-old fled Haiti to escape the rampant gang violence that upended his university studies in economics, and planned to join family in Montreal. But for the last four and a half months, Appolon has been incarcerated in a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility. He wonders how he would even begin to rebuild, if he is released. Every day that passes, my mental heath is just getting worse. You see the world going on and you're just stuck here, watching, he said. I'm here, and even when I get out, the problem is going to be worse."
"Appolon had sought refugee in Canada, believing that it offered a haven to those at risk. The fact that he had Canadian family should have meant he was eligible to claim asylum. Yet it was Canadian officials who handed him over to the ICE agents who detained him. This is what is so shocking about this case and others like it, said Erin Simpson, a Toronto-based immigration lawyer who is representing Appolon. Canada is participating in this. Canada is handing people over to ICE."
"Refugees like Appolon attempt to claim asylum in Canada through an exception to the country's Safe Third Country Agreement with the US. Under the agreement, refugees must seek asylum in the first safe country they arrive in. But legal experts argue that the US should not be considered a safe third country. They argue that the country's long-term detention of those seeking refuge and threats to deport asylum seekers to countries where they could be harmed or killed indicate that the US is not safe."
"Meanwhile, Canada is tightening its own asylum system. New legislation enacted in March has created further ineligibility rules for refugee claimants, prompting critics to accuse Ma"
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