‘It’s a miracle’: Canada halts planned deportation of bisexual man to Kenya

After exhausting all possible options, a Toronto resident, undocumented migrant and member of the 2SLGBTQ+ community was hours away from being deported from Canada when he received an 11th-hour miracle.

Charles Mwangi was supposed to board a plane on Sunday morning, leaving behind family and friends from the Jane and Finch community that he has called home after fleeing Kenya and arriving in Canada in 2019.

“It has been a milestone for five years, fighting every day. This is God,” said Mwangi.

Charles is a healthcare worker and worked on the frontlines during the pandemic. He is also bisexual and feared for his life if he were to return to his homeland.

“It was the end of me.”

With the dangers he was potentially facing, Charles made one final attempt to save his life on Saturday morning.

“We filed for a United Nations application. I was like ‘What will I do tomorrow?’ I don’t know what I can say, I was like it was hard, it was sad.”

On Saturday afternoon, Charles received a call from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada telling him that his removal had been cancelled.

Some of Charles’ friends who have supported him during the entire ordeal, were with him when he learned that he was being granted a one-year Temporary Resident Permit.

“A sigh of relief. We didn’t know what would happen tomorrow, we were just living by minute,” said Duke Ogechi, a friend of Charles Mwangi.

“It’s a miracle. To me, it’s a miracle,” said Joshua Mooncha, another friend of Mwangi.

CityNews first spoke with Charles in May when his latest appeals for refugee claims were refused.

“Caryn (Ceolin), since the beginning, since May has been covering this story. Every time there was a refusal, after refusal after refusal, Caryn would do a follow-up story to keep this story in the public eye, and that’s been really important,” said Diana Da Silva, Organizer with Migrant Workers Alliance for Change.

The immense looming burdens have been lifted from Charles’ shoulders for now, but the entire battle may not be over just yet.

“We do need the immigration minister to grant that permanent residency status on humanitarian grounds because stopping the deportation is not the full fight here. We need the status now,” said Da Silva.

The Migrant Workers Alliance for Change said this a rare win and is calling on the federal government to honour a commitment they made three years ago.

“There are 44 deportations that happen every day. Deportations are increasing. There is a solution to it. The solution is that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made a promise in 2021 to regularize all undocumented people. This could have been avoided, this fight could have been avoided if he had kept his promise and we’re still asking him to keep his promise,” said Da Silva.

Charles says he will continue to fight for other migrants in the meantime and will be leading a demonstration in Toronto next month, raising awareness for immigrant justice before Parliament returns. But before then, he will be soaking in this hard-earned victory.

“Celebration. That’s what will happen tomorrow.”