News
2007-08-11
Gay Nicaraguan
refugee ordered to leave Canada
Canada’s
board of citizenship and immigration has ordered a gay
Nicaraguan man to immediately return to his native land
Canada’s
board of citizenship and immigration has ordered a gay
Nicaraguan man to immediately return to his native land
after two years of living in Toronto while trying to
seek asylum.
Alvaro Orozco,
21, said he fled Nicaraga when he was 12 because of
harsh sodomy laws and abuse from his father for being gay.
“I was so
scared,” he said in the May 22 issue of The
Advocate. “I remember going to church—my
family is Catholic—and many times I heard the priest
say that gay people will go to hell. It was then I
knew I had to leave, that I couldn’t grow up
here. I
couldn’t wait until I was
18.”
Orozco hitchhiked
through Central America, Mexico, and then to Texas
after swimming across the Rio Grande. When he reached the
United States, he was detained and then transferred to
a Catholic Charities facility. He eventually fled and
lived in the U.S. for five years but was drawn to
Canada because of its less stringent immigration laws.
In 2005,
Orozco’s request for asylum was rejected because a
member of the Canada's Immigration and Refugee Board
did not believe he is gay.
His attorney,
El-Farouk Khaki, told The [Toronto] Globe
and Mail that he will continue to fight the
decision. (The Advocate)
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