A Mexican with alleged cartel ties is seeking refugee status in Canada — a decade after he told an undercover B.C. police officer that “he was a hitman for hire.”
The man, identified only as C.M. in Federal Court of Canada documents, also provided the cop with “information concerning his fees, method and disposal techniques,” Justice Julie Blackhawk noted in a ruling released Tuesday.
The federal public safety minister asked for a judicial review of a March 7 decision by Immigration and Refugee Board member Maleeka Mohamed who said C.M. could be released from detention on conditions as his claim is processed.
The minister said Mohamed minimized C.M.’s danger to the public “as a drug trafficker and a known associate of the terrorist entity La Familia Michoacana Cartel.”
Blackhawk agreed in her April 1 ruling, saying parts of Mohamed’s decision to release the admitted hitman were “unreasonable, unintelligible and not justified.” She ordered the case be sent back to another IRB member for review.
The 42-year-old claimant crossed the border into Canada in February with his minor child — a dual U.S. and Mexican citizen.
C.M. had been deported from Canada on April 7, 2015, because of his connections to two separate B.C. criminal investigations.
“In 2011, the respondent was found by the Vancouver Police Department to be in possession of a significant quantity of controlled substances and paraphernalia. He was arrested, but no charges were brought,” the Federal Court decision said.
“In 2014, the VPD and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police were engaged in a lengthy investigation into organized crime and drug trafficking. The respondent was present at a meeting where a controlled substance was purchased. In a recording taken by an undercover officer, the respondent stated that he was a hitman for hire.”
Many of the documents entered in the federal case are sealed to protect the identity of the child, who is now staying with relatives in B.C.
But one source said Thursday that no charges were ever laid in the 2014 investigation into the alleged cocaine smuggling operations of some B.C.-based La Familia cartel members because of some issues that arose during the probe.
However, police alerted the Canada Border Services Agency about C.M.’s purported hitman confession. He was arrested on Nov. 4, 2014.
In December 2014, Postmedia News reported on the presence in B.C. of La Familia and Sinaloa cartel members, who police said at the time were working with local criminal organizations to smuggle and sell cocaine and other drugs.
Both cartels were designated terrorist groups by the Canadian government on Feb. 20 — a week after C.M. returned to the country.
C.M. initially came to Canada on a temporary work visa in September 2006 for a job at a Best Western hotel. The visa expired in December 2006 but he stayed until his removal almost nine years later.
In October 2021, he managed to get a U.S. visa to visit his son’s mother, the Federal Court ruling said. The U.S. visa was revoked in
February “because he was unlawfully in the U.S. longer than 180 days and made misrepresentations on his visa application.”
Instead of returning to Mexico, he crossed into Canada at “an unofficial port of entry” and “made a claim for refugee protection based on fear of the child’s mother and fears that the Trump administration would separate the respondent from his child,” the ruling said.
He gave border officials the name of a contact in Canada, who was one of the men targeted in the 2014 investigation. The federal government argued before Blackhawk that C.M.’s comment was an indicator that he had continuing ties with the terrorist group.
Blackhawk agreed and said Mohamed’s “conclusion that the passage of time and lack of criminal charges mitigates against the danger to the public, considering other relevant/contradictory evidence that indicated the respondent has ongoing ties to former associates from La Familia, is unreasonable.”
She also agreed that in ordering C.M.’s release, Mohamed “failed to grapple with important evidence concerning the respondent’s criminal activity, namely his own evidence to an undercover officer in 2014 that he was a hitman.”
source: https://vancouversun.com/news/admitted-mexican-hitman-flees-us-for-canada-makes-refugee-claim
archive: https://archive.md/Nc8Kc
The man, identified only as C.M. in Federal Court of Canada documents, also provided the cop with “information concerning his fees, method and disposal techniques,” Justice Julie Blackhawk noted in a ruling released Tuesday.
The federal public safety minister asked for a judicial review of a March 7 decision by Immigration and Refugee Board member Maleeka Mohamed who said C.M. could be released from detention on conditions as his claim is processed.
The minister said Mohamed minimized C.M.’s danger to the public “as a drug trafficker and a known associate of the terrorist entity La Familia Michoacana Cartel.”
Blackhawk agreed in her April 1 ruling, saying parts of Mohamed’s decision to release the admitted hitman were “unreasonable, unintelligible and not justified.” She ordered the case be sent back to another IRB member for review.
The 42-year-old claimant crossed the border into Canada in February with his minor child — a dual U.S. and Mexican citizen.
C.M. had been deported from Canada on April 7, 2015, because of his connections to two separate B.C. criminal investigations.
“In 2011, the respondent was found by the Vancouver Police Department to be in possession of a significant quantity of controlled substances and paraphernalia. He was arrested, but no charges were brought,” the Federal Court decision said.
“In 2014, the VPD and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police were engaged in a lengthy investigation into organized crime and drug trafficking. The respondent was present at a meeting where a controlled substance was purchased. In a recording taken by an undercover officer, the respondent stated that he was a hitman for hire.”
Many of the documents entered in the federal case are sealed to protect the identity of the child, who is now staying with relatives in B.C.
But one source said Thursday that no charges were ever laid in the 2014 investigation into the alleged cocaine smuggling operations of some B.C.-based La Familia cartel members because of some issues that arose during the probe.
However, police alerted the Canada Border Services Agency about C.M.’s purported hitman confession. He was arrested on Nov. 4, 2014.
In December 2014, Postmedia News reported on the presence in B.C. of La Familia and Sinaloa cartel members, who police said at the time were working with local criminal organizations to smuggle and sell cocaine and other drugs.
Both cartels were designated terrorist groups by the Canadian government on Feb. 20 — a week after C.M. returned to the country.
C.M. initially came to Canada on a temporary work visa in September 2006 for a job at a Best Western hotel. The visa expired in December 2006 but he stayed until his removal almost nine years later.
In October 2021, he managed to get a U.S. visa to visit his son’s mother, the Federal Court ruling said. The U.S. visa was revoked in
February “because he was unlawfully in the U.S. longer than 180 days and made misrepresentations on his visa application.”
Instead of returning to Mexico, he crossed into Canada at “an unofficial port of entry” and “made a claim for refugee protection based on fear of the child’s mother and fears that the Trump administration would separate the respondent from his child,” the ruling said.
He gave border officials the name of a contact in Canada, who was one of the men targeted in the 2014 investigation. The federal government argued before Blackhawk that C.M.’s comment was an indicator that he had continuing ties with the terrorist group.
Blackhawk agreed and said Mohamed’s “conclusion that the passage of time and lack of criminal charges mitigates against the danger to the public, considering other relevant/contradictory evidence that indicated the respondent has ongoing ties to former associates from La Familia, is unreasonable.”
She also agreed that in ordering C.M.’s release, Mohamed “failed to grapple with important evidence concerning the respondent’s criminal activity, namely his own evidence to an undercover officer in 2014 that he was a hitman.”
source: https://vancouversun.com/news/admitted-mexican-hitman-flees-us-for-canada-makes-refugee-claim
archive: https://archive.md/Nc8Kc
