Judge halts deportation of non-binary American in landmark ruling after Trump’s gender edicts
Globe and Mail
Marie Woolf
Ottawa
Published 2 hours agoUpdated 1 hour ago
A Federal Court justice has halted the deportation of a non-binary American in a ruling that criticized Ottawa’s Immigration Department for not properly considering the situation of LGBTQ Americans since U.S. President Donald Trump took office.
Angel Jenkel, a 24-year-old multimedia artist from Minnesota who is engaged to a Canadian, can now remain in Canada while their case is judicially reviewed, in a judgment that their lawyers hailed as precedent-setting.
Immigration lawyers have been inundated with inquiries from LGBTQ Americans about how to emigrate to Canada since Mr. Trump took office, with many who have Canadian parents and grandparents applying for Canadian citizenship.
Adrienne Smith of Smith Immigration law, a Toronto firm specializing in LGBTQ immigration, said the Federal Court justice stopped their client’s removal from Canada in part because an immigration officer had failed to consider recent evidence about the conditions in the U.S. for trans and non-binary individuals when assessing the risk of being returned.
Justice Julie Blackhawk, the first Indigenous woman appointed to the Federal Court, said the immigration officer who carried out Mx. Jenkel’s pre-removal risk assessment’s approach was “flawed and unreasonable” and relied on outdated briefing material that “does not address current conditions for LGBTQ, non-binary and transgender persons” in the U.S.
“The officer failed to consider recent evidence of the conditions that may have supported a reasonable fear of persecution,” she said in her ruling, saying that Mx. Jenkel’s deportation must be delayed.
People facing deportation from Canada can request a pre-removal risk assessment by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada before being sent back. They are generally allowed to stay if they are deemed to be at real risk of persecution or serious harm if they are deported.
Mx. Jenkel, who came to Ontario in 2022 as a visitor, represented themself at the risk assessment and was denied the right to remain in Canada. They were due to be deported after failing to get the required documentation to stay in Canada with their partner, a social-media influencer, whom they are now engaged to marry.
Mx. Jenkel told The Globe and Mail that the current climate in the U.S. is “scary,” and that being non-binary, they are afraid of persecution if they return.
They said more people should be paying attention to the erosion of trans and non-binary people’s rights in the U.S.
“I also fear not being able to travel to see my family, as most of my family lives in the South which has already been deemed unsafe for transgender people to travel. And I know that no matter what I do, I look trans. People read me that way no matter the gender expression I portray.”
Mx. Jenkel said they came out as gender fluid/non-binary to their friends and on social media in 2015 when they were 14 and to their mother a year later.
Their gender marker was changed in the school system while in high school and they took testosterone as a 15- and 16-year-old. However, their father objected to them taking hormones as a minor and it was stopped abruptly. They started hormone therapy again at age 18.
The Federal Court noted that Mx. Jenkel had fears about returning to an environment where they previously experienced fear as a non-binary person.
It acknowledged that Mx. Jenkel had caring responsibilities for their partner, who has a medical condition that brings on seizures.
Human rights advocates have been calling on Ottawa to provide a safe haven for gender-diverse residents of the U.S. after Mr. Trump signed an executive order saying a person’s biological classification is “immutable,” and gender identity will no longer be acknowledged by the U.S.
Mr. Trump has also signed an executive order to prevent people assigned male at birth from participating in women’s or girls’ sporting events, or from being sent to women’s prisons.
The U.S. government now only recognizes two genders and has stopped issuing passports and identity cards with an X gender marker to transgender and non-binary Americans.
Mr. Trump has also abolished the U.S. government’s diversity, equity and inclusion departments and taken steps to exclude transgender people from the U.S. military.
They said they were pleased that the judge had considered the impact of Mr. Trump’s edicts on trans and non-binary people in her ruling on Mx. Jenkel’s case.
“I really applaud the move by the judge and I think it is precedent-setting,” they said. “There is so much chaos coming out of the White House and I think it is on purpose. This ruling from this judge will force people to pause and reflect just how dangerous it is for marginalized people there.”
Sarah Mikhail, also of Smith Immigration Law in Toronto, said the judgment is “a really exciting precedent to see.”
“What we’re seeing here is an important determination from the judiciary, that this isn’t business as usual, and what’s happened in January with the inauguration and the change in administration has amounted to a difference in conditions to the safety posed to trans and non-binary individuals, and that this has led to a deterioration,” Ms. Mikhail said.
“This is an acknowledgment that these changes are serious and that this is something that has a material effect on trans and non-binary individuals.”
IRCC declined to comment as the matter is before the courts.
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TL,DR— we’re about to be inundated with American trannies.
Globe and Mail
Marie Woolf
Ottawa
Published 2 hours agoUpdated 1 hour ago
A Federal Court justice has halted the deportation of a non-binary American in a ruling that criticized Ottawa’s Immigration Department for not properly considering the situation of LGBTQ Americans since U.S. President Donald Trump took office.
Angel Jenkel, a 24-year-old multimedia artist from Minnesota who is engaged to a Canadian, can now remain in Canada while their case is judicially reviewed, in a judgment that their lawyers hailed as precedent-setting.
Immigration lawyers have been inundated with inquiries from LGBTQ Americans about how to emigrate to Canada since Mr. Trump took office, with many who have Canadian parents and grandparents applying for Canadian citizenship.
Adrienne Smith of Smith Immigration law, a Toronto firm specializing in LGBTQ immigration, said the Federal Court justice stopped their client’s removal from Canada in part because an immigration officer had failed to consider recent evidence about the conditions in the U.S. for trans and non-binary individuals when assessing the risk of being returned.
Justice Julie Blackhawk, the first Indigenous woman appointed to the Federal Court, said the immigration officer who carried out Mx. Jenkel’s pre-removal risk assessment’s approach was “flawed and unreasonable” and relied on outdated briefing material that “does not address current conditions for LGBTQ, non-binary and transgender persons” in the U.S.
“The officer failed to consider recent evidence of the conditions that may have supported a reasonable fear of persecution,” she said in her ruling, saying that Mx. Jenkel’s deportation must be delayed.
People facing deportation from Canada can request a pre-removal risk assessment by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada before being sent back. They are generally allowed to stay if they are deemed to be at real risk of persecution or serious harm if they are deported.
Mx. Jenkel, who came to Ontario in 2022 as a visitor, represented themself at the risk assessment and was denied the right to remain in Canada. They were due to be deported after failing to get the required documentation to stay in Canada with their partner, a social-media influencer, whom they are now engaged to marry.
Mx. Jenkel told The Globe and Mail that the current climate in the U.S. is “scary,” and that being non-binary, they are afraid of persecution if they return.
They said more people should be paying attention to the erosion of trans and non-binary people’s rights in the U.S.
“I also fear not being able to travel to see my family, as most of my family lives in the South which has already been deemed unsafe for transgender people to travel. And I know that no matter what I do, I look trans. People read me that way no matter the gender expression I portray.”
Mx. Jenkel said they came out as gender fluid/non-binary to their friends and on social media in 2015 when they were 14 and to their mother a year later.
Their gender marker was changed in the school system while in high school and they took testosterone as a 15- and 16-year-old. However, their father objected to them taking hormones as a minor and it was stopped abruptly. They started hormone therapy again at age 18.
The Federal Court noted that Mx. Jenkel had fears about returning to an environment where they previously experienced fear as a non-binary person.
It acknowledged that Mx. Jenkel had caring responsibilities for their partner, who has a medical condition that brings on seizures.
Human rights advocates have been calling on Ottawa to provide a safe haven for gender-diverse residents of the U.S. after Mr. Trump signed an executive order saying a person’s biological classification is “immutable,” and gender identity will no longer be acknowledged by the U.S.
Mr. Trump has also signed an executive order to prevent people assigned male at birth from participating in women’s or girls’ sporting events, or from being sent to women’s prisons.
The U.S. government now only recognizes two genders and has stopped issuing passports and identity cards with an X gender marker to transgender and non-binary Americans.
Mr. Trump has also abolished the U.S. government’s diversity, equity and inclusion departments and taken steps to exclude transgender people from the U.S. military.
They said they were pleased that the judge had considered the impact of Mr. Trump’s edicts on trans and non-binary people in her ruling on Mx. Jenkel’s case.
“I really applaud the move by the judge and I think it is precedent-setting,” they said. “There is so much chaos coming out of the White House and I think it is on purpose. This ruling from this judge will force people to pause and reflect just how dangerous it is for marginalized people there.”
Sarah Mikhail, also of Smith Immigration Law in Toronto, said the judgment is “a really exciting precedent to see.”
“What we’re seeing here is an important determination from the judiciary, that this isn’t business as usual, and what’s happened in January with the inauguration and the change in administration has amounted to a difference in conditions to the safety posed to trans and non-binary individuals, and that this has led to a deterioration,” Ms. Mikhail said.
“This is an acknowledgment that these changes are serious and that this is something that has a material effect on trans and non-binary individuals.”
IRCC declined to comment as the matter is before the courts.
—————————-
TL,DR— we’re about to be inundated with American trannies.
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