A 36-year-old Filipino health worker, Carlo Escario, was saved from last-minute deportation as the authorities allowed him to live in Toronto overlooking his failure to disclose complete family details after thousands campaigned in his favor.
At the Toronto Pearson International Airport Thursday morning, he was waiting to get deported after his immigrant status was revoked due to misrepresentation.
Barely an hour before his flight to the Philippines, he was stunned on learning that the authorities had allowed him to live in Canada.
Thousands of people had signed an online petition calling on the government to let Escario stay and subsequently he had followed up with the federal officials to grant his application to remain in the country.
RELATED STORY: Canada defers deportation of Filipino health worker
He came to Canada in 2007 and worked as a live-in caregiver to become a permanent resident three years later. When officials found that he did not disclose that he had a wife and a child in the Philippines they ordered his deportation from Canada.
He admitted the mistake, saying he feared that his application may have been delayed. Escario, who worked at Toronto General Hospital during the pandemic said that after the deportation order he was feeling devastated as he already had a “life here, a career that I built up here for so long” that was just going to be over.
Escario, who was granted a temporary residence permit by the federal government, was initially going to be deported in May but requested a delay for his second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.
Immigration lawyer Eddie Kadri said Carlo’s said that the government should address the delays which make people hide their details.
Monica de Vera, who helped Escario, said she decided not to stop fighting for his cause.
“I am incredibly grateful for all of the people who took action to support Carlo,” de Vera said. (AW)
