I wish our government would do the same. It may seem cruel to some but lthe parent(s) knew what they were doing. They are letting the parents make arrangements for the child to get a passport, the parents have to go and once the kid gets the passport it can go back to mommy and daddy.

http://www.torontosun.com/News/TorontoA ... 9-sun.html

Sun, February 11, 2007

Passport to nowhereDeported parents say they can't leave without their youngest child. The feds say they're stalling
By MICHELE MANDEL

Sonia Moura faces deportation to Portugual — but her 11-month-old son Michael is in limbo because of a backlog to obtain his passport. (Mark O’Neill, Sun media)

No parent should ever have to imagine abandoning their child.

It is cruel. It is inhumane. And yet that is what our government seemed to be telling them to do.

Carlos and Sonia Moura were supposed to be deported back to the Azores in Portugal yesterday. All their earthly belongings packed up in a few tattered suitcases, their children Camila, 11, Bernardo, 10, and little mop-topped Steven at their side, they were to leave immediately on the 5:25 p.m. flight.

It didn't matter that a government backlog meant their Canadian-born baby, 11-month-old Michael, couldn't travel with them because he had no passport.

It didn't matter that they had no relatives here to care for him. It didn't matter that all they were begging for was a stay until his delayed passport could be issued.



'PIECE OF MY BODY'

A federal judge had been told all these facts just the day before and yet he still decreed they had to go.

Hours before their planned departure, Sonia was weeping as she cradled her sleeping son in her arms. Her eyes were hollow, her tiny frame racked by sobs.

"They are asking me to tear off a piece of my body," she said through an interpreter. "I am empty. I can't believe what they're asking of me."

Just 29, the mother of four is battling a thyroid condition that her Toronto doctors fear is cancer. Her future is uncertain enough. How could anyone suggest she face being without her baby as well?

"If it's a crook or a robber or a murderer, those people aren't deported back," added her desperate husband. "I'm a hard-working bricklayer for six years. I'm honest. And I'm sent back without my child?"

He loves Canada with all his heart, he said, but he doesn't understand how he could be expected to leave his son.

After years of appeals, they were finally at the end. Turned down as refugee claimants and ordered to leave, they were given a two-month extension last November because of Sonia's illness.

But on Jan. 15 they were called in and told they would be removed on Feb. 10. Despite almost a month of negotiations and an emergency bid by their lawyer, they learned Friday night that there was no more hope to be had.

BUREAUCRATIC BACKLOG

Judge Frederick Gibson refused to stay the removal order, saying the family had been notified a month ago and "the evidence before the Court is far from clear that they have taken appropriate efforts to ensure the safety and security of their 11-month-old child who is a Canadian citizen and who does not have a valid passport."

An attitude which seemed to say, "Tough luck about your little boy but you'll have to leave him behind." Yet it is the government's own bureaucratic backlog which has left their baby without his travel papers.

"They're blaming them knowing full well that they couldn't get his passport," said their lawyer, George Kubes. "I don't understand the urgency. They've been here six years. Another 30 days wouldn't hurt."

To officials, it appears they are just stalling. Yet the family insists it was only given the photocopy of Sonia's passport last Monday -- a vital document needed to apply for Michael's Canadian passport. But when the Mouras got to the Passport Canada office Tuesday, they found themselves caught in the department's crushing backlog. Michael's passport, they were told, could take up to 60 days.

With the surge in demand created by tighter U.S. regulations, there were no more rapid turnarounds.

No exceptions.

Family friend Tony Amaral called the enforcement office the next day to plead their case to an officer. "He said that's not his problem," he recalled. "One way or the other, they have to leave."

Even if it meant without their baby.

Canada Border Services enforcement officer John Crosby said he had asked the department of justice to look into whether the family could leave Michael behind with a relative until he got a passport.

BLISSFULLY UNAWARE

"They've been doing everything they could to stall their removal," he said yesterday. "A precedent had to be set that they have to stop trying to stall things. They were told back in August of last to get him a passport. I don't know why they waited until the last minute."

The Mouras arrived at Terminal 1 yesterday, an angelic Michael sleeping in his mother's arms, blissfully unaware of the trauma his parents have endured. After a sleepless night, they knew they had no choice.

"We're not leaving without him," his father vowed.

"I don't believe any mother could leave her son behind," his wife agreed.

Beyond that, they had no plan -- and no clue of what to expect on the other side of the steel immigration door.

To their relief, the exasperated officer told them they would not have to board the flight without their baby. Instead, they have to report tomorrow morning to make new arrangements. Their family remains intact -- and their love for Canada as well