Mexican Mother Facing Deportation from Canada Without Infant Son Verity Stevenson - The Link
go to original February 4, 2014

Ivonne Hernandez, who may be deported to Mexico without her 13-month-old son, alleges her husband abused her. (Shaun Michaud)

Ivonne Hernandez fled four different states in Mexico, but she says her alleged abuser always caught up with her.

Seeking asylum from domestic violence, her escape led her to Montreal in 2009, where she eventually got married and had a child, but again ended up facing abuse.

Now after having lived in Canada without status for about a year-and-a-half, Hernandez, 41, is facing deportation on Feb. 7 without her 13-month-old son.

Her situation is not uncommon among many Mexican women now seeking asylum in Canada, and is raising questions about the country’s treatment of refugee claimants, according to organizations speaking out on her case and fighting for her to stay in Canada.

“We’ve seen a few cases of women asking for refugee status in Canada, and who have been victims of violence [while] in the country,” president of the Fédération des femmes du Québec, Alexa Conradi, told The Link after a press conference held by the FFQ on Monday.

“The Canadian response has been, ‘If you just [leave the country] you’ll be fine, we recognize that you are a victim, but you need to go back and just move somewhere else.’”

Those organizations - Doctors Without Borders, the FFQ, Québec solidaire and Solidarity Across Borders - are advocating for Hernandez to “at least gain custody of her child, whether that be in Mexico or in Canada, that’s priority number one,” said her lawyer, Stewart Istvanffy.

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