‘If anyone deserves to be Canadian, it’s them’: Community rallies around a family slated for deportation

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Chesterville residents are rallying behind a family that lost their bid for refugee status in Canada and face deportation to Mexico, where they were extorted by a notorious criminal cartel.

Ramon Chavez, his wife, Andrea, and their two sons, Uriel, 12, and Said, 7, have been ordered out of the country by July 19.

The Chavez family had sought refugee protection in this country, but their application – and a subsequent appeal – were denied by the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada.

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The Chavez’, who operated a small shoe store out of their garage in Michoacan, Mexico, said they were being extorted by members of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, a powerful criminal group known for their “extreme and public use of violence.”

The refugee board accepted that the Chavez family was being extorted, but said they did not qualify as convention refugees or persons in need of protection because there’s a safe alternative within Mexico where they could relocate.

A hearings officer with the Refugee Appeal Division said the family could safely live in the city of Mérida, the capital of Yucatán state, where the Jalisco cartel is not active. While such a move might be difficult, she said, it is what’s required under refugee law.

“There is no persuasive evidence,” Kari Schroeder wrote, “that they (the Chavez family) could not find employment, housing, health care and education. It would not be objectively unreasonable for the appellants to relocate.”

The Chavez family, however, contend that Mérida is unsafe, and that people there are often victimized by extortion networks in that city.

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“The drug cartel is there,” Ramon Chavez said in an interview through an interpreter. “Even children inform for the drug cartels.”

The community of Chesterville is now raising money to help the Chavez family stop the deportation and launch a last-ditch appeal to immigration officials on humanitarian and compassionate grounds.

Teachers at the children’s elementary school, St. Mary Catholic School, have raised more than $2,000 to put toward the family’s legal fees. Teachers, students and other members of the community have also written letters in support of their application to remain in Canada.

“I think it’s really important for the children that they be allowed to stay in Canada,” said Jodi Anderson, a teacher at St. Mary Catholic School. “The youngest, Said, doesn’t remember much about Mexico: He came here when he was in kindergarten. Canada is his home.”

The two Chavez children have been in the school since November 2021. Both are now fluent in English and have a well-established network of friends.

The parents held jobs until their work permits were lifted by immigration officials earlier this year. The family regularly attends church in Chesterville and both children play soccer. The Chavez’ also welcomed a new son, Andrew, last June.

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“They are such nice, hard-working people, the kind of people we want in Canada,” Anderson said. “If anyone deserves to be Canadian, it’s them.”

A local Catholic church, St. Mary of the Presentation, has also collected money to support the family’s bid to stay in Chesterville.

“We’ve known the family for years, and they’re very active in our parish,” said Brenda Sliva, who runs the children’s liturgy. Andrew was baptized in the church, she said, and Said recently received his First Holy Communion.

“The parish has watched the kids grow up,” Sliva said. “They’ve become part of our parish, and part of the community, and we’d like them to be able to stay.”

Another Chesterville resident, Missy McDonnell, whose son, Sawyer, is close friends with Uriel Chavez, wants the immigration minister to intervene on the family’s behalf.

“I don’t understand why they have to leave when they have made a successful home here,” said McDonnell, “particularly when it doesn’t seem very safe for them to go back. We know they’re safe here, and they’re settled.”

According to the family’s refugee application, Ramon Chavez fled Mexico for Canada after unsuccessfully appealing to the police for help in defending against extortion by members of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel.

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A member of the cartel had demanded the family pay more than one-quarter of their monthly income for protection.

The Chavez family made six payments to the cartel, but unable to afford more of them, they closed their small business, and relied on Ramon’s salary as a field worker. They thought that would end the extortion, but the cartel continued to make threats and demand payment, so Ramon Chavez went to the police in November 2017.

When the police said they couldn’t help him, Chavez fled the country and arrived in Canada in February 2018.

Meanwhile, Andrea began selling directly to the former customers of the shoe business, but in July 2021, the cartel again began making demands and threats so she fled with her children to join her husband in Canada.

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