As each day in US detention passes, Markens Appolon can feel the life he had dreamed of slipping away.The 25-year-old fled Haiti to escape the rampant gang violence that upended his university studies in economics, and planned to join family in Montreal.But for the last four and a half months, Appolon has been incarcerated in a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility. He wonders how he would even begin to rebuild, if he is released.
“Every day that passes, my mental heath is just getting worse. You see the world going on and you’re just stuck here, watching,” he said. “I’m here, and even when I get out, the problem is going to be worse.”
Appolon had sought refuge in Canada, believing that it offered a haven to those at risk. The fact that he had Canadian family should have meant he was eligible to claim asylum. Yet it was Canadian officials who handed him over to the ICE agents who detained him.“This is what is so shocking about this case and others like it,” said Erin Simpson, a Toronto-based immigration lawyer who is representing Appolon. “Canada is participating in this. Canada is handing people over to ICE.”Markens Appolon.Simpson and other Canadian immigration lawyers say they have been inundated with cases like Appolon’s since the start of Donald Trump’s second term in office.Refugees like Appolon attempt to claim asylum in Canada through an exception to the country’s Safe Third Country Agreement with the US. Under the agreement, refugees must seek asylum in the first “safe country” they arrive in.
