LANGLEY, B.C. – An asylum seeker from El Salvador made an emotional exit from the protection of a Langley, B.C., church two years after seeking sanctuary to avoid deportation.
The family and supporters of Jose Figueroa cheered and wept with the man as he stepped through the doors of Walnut Grove Lutheran Church without fear of arrest.
Figueroa, who turned 49 today, was granted an exemption to stay in Canada on humanitarian and compassionate grounds this week by Immigration Minister John McCallum, paving the way for his permanent residency.
Figueroa says his first plan is to pay a surprise visit to Rodney Watson, a former American soldier in Iraq who took sanctuary in a Vancouver church six years ago after fleeing a second deployment as a war resister.
His pastor Karl Keller says the unexpected immigration decision is a Christmas miracle, while Figueroa’s 18-year-old son Jose Jr. says he’s excited to play video games with his dad and hopes he’ll teach him to drive.
Figueroa and his wife escaped to Canada in 1997, but he was denied residency by immigration officials who decided his role in a resistance movement that brought El Salvador democracy had links to terrorism.
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