“God, save me” | The Press
When the SUV she was in rolled over, Yfemine Joseph, 33, thought her life was ending. Four months pregnant, her pelvis fractured, her neck trapped, she knew neither where she was nor if her baby had survived.
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“I prayed. I said: God, save me,” she says in the Montreal apartment of a friend who is hosting her.
The accident occurred near Hemmingford on July 13 at around 4 a.m. A group of around ten Haitian migrants, including her, had crossed the border illegally aboard a bus before getting into an SUV heading to Montreal. A few minutes later, a drunk driver hit them head-on. Some fled, others were arrested and then returned to the United States.
It was the accident that revealed the presence of the group to the Canadian authorities.
“It’s a miracle”
At the hospital, Yfemine Joseph learns good news: her baby is doing well. “It’s a miracle,” she said. But she is also informed that the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) intends to send her back to the United States, where she is already the subject of a deportation order for having missed an immigration hearing.
PHOTO MARCO CAMPANOZZI, LA PRESSE
Yfemine Joseph is staying with a friend in Montreal.
For his lawyer, Me Anne-Cécile Khouri-Raphael, her file is “exceptional”: irregular entry, accident, state of great vulnerability, referrals attempted twice despite her pregnancy and her injuries. The first expulsion order is canceled for “administrative reasons”. The second falls 40 hours before the scheduled dismissal date, October 10.
Concretely, this means that I had 24 hours to do everything. If I hadn’t worked 24 hours straight, she would have been fired. This is not normal. In immigration law, there is a fundamental principle: the right to be heard. In 24 hours, nothing can be mobilized.
Me Anne-Cécile Khouri-Raphael, lawyer for Yfemine Joseph
During his hospitalization, CBSA agents also showed up armed in the establishment. “She told me she was afraid they would shoot her,” reports Me Khouri-Raphael.
The 90 day rule
The decisive legal issue is played out elsewhere. According to the Safe Third Country Agreement (STCA), a person intercepted in Canada can be returned to the United States within 90 days. After this period, return is no longer possible.
The cancellation of the second expulsion attempt, which occurred at the last minute, therefore changed the destiny of Mme Joseph. Once the 90 days have passed, she can no longer be returned to the United States. But she remains inadmissible for asylum because she entered irregularly, and ineligible for pre-removal risk assessment (PRRA) because of the moratorium on deportations to Haiti.
In other words: she’s… in limbo.
“It doesn’t really have a legal existence in Canada,” summarizes M.e Khouri-Raphael.
A life on pause
Before the accident, his journey was arduous.
Leaving Haiti on October 15, 2023 “because of war and banditry”, Yfemine Joseph went through Managua, Nicaragua, then Mexico, where she waited three months before getting an appointment on the application CBP One to present himself at the American border.
She entered the United States on January 20, 2024. A month later, she obtained a work permit and went to work in Colorado at a meat processing plant.
“Really hard work, really, really hard,” she said.
Despite everything, this job allowed him to send money to his two young children who remained in Haiti.
Then, Donald Trump returned to power.
PHOTO MARCO CAMPANOZZI, LA PRESSE
“I pray every day,” says Yfemine Joseph. I hope things will change for me. »
[Trump] cut everything off. All the people who had this work permit lost their jobs. Well yes, that’s how it is. The president ordered them to fire all these people.
Yfemine Joseph
Her hearing before a judge was set for September 12, 2025. “This is where the trap lies that many people have suffered, unfortunately,” she explains. When you go there, they arrest you and have you deported to Haiti. Me, for fear of being deported, I decided to come here. »
A few days later, his journey ended in an ambulance.
And after?
Nine months pregnant, she is due to give birth by cesarean section this Wednesday at Anna-Laberge hospital. She moves with difficulty and relies on a walker to get up and take a few steps.
“I have a lot of pain,” she said. I hope that after the baby is born, I will be able to walk like before. »
Its only legal avenue now: a request for humanitarian reasons, the deadlines for which exceed 10 years and which may very well be refused. She thinks of her children aged 8 and 5, whom she will not see grow up.
“There, now they are suffering because I can no longer work, I can no longer send them money,” she said, with tears in her eyes.
Her husband, an American citizen of Haitian origin whom she met in the United States, came to Montreal for the birth. He will leave later.
“I pray every day,” she repeats. I hope things will change for me. »
