posted on March 25, 2005 07:43:41 AM new
Canada Denies Asylum To U.S. Army Deserter
By Doug Struck
Washington Post Foreign Service
Friday, March 25, 2005; Page A13
TORONTO, March 24 -- A board hearing Canada's refugee cases rejected a bid Thursday for asylum by a U.S. Army deserter who refused to go to Iraq, raising legal roadblocks to the growing trickle of American servicemen fleeing north of the border.
The board ruled that Jeremy Hinzman, 26, could not argue that he would be unfairly persecuted in the United States for refusing to serve in what he said was an illegal war.
Jeremy Hinzman, with his son Liam and wife Nga Nguyen, waits for the refugee board in Toronto to begin hearing his case in December 2004. (
Hinzman, a parachute-trained specialist from Rapid City, S.D., served in Afghanistan but fled from Fort Bragg, N.C., and entered Canada in January 2004 after his unit, the 82nd Airborne Division, was given orders to deploy to Iraq.
"Our hands were tied by not being able to argue the legality of the war," Hinzman told several dozen demonstrators, including two other American deserters, who gathered outside the U.S. Consulate after the decision. Now working as a bicycle courier, Hinzman cycled up after work, to chants of "War resisters welcome here."
His attorney, Jeffry House, said nine other servicemen had started the asylum application process and he estimated there were "about 100" in hiding in Canada.
"Obviously we are disappointed," House said. "We certainly are not giving up. We believe the decision is wrong, and we will appeal it."
House said the ruling was a setback for those fleeing the war, but that it didn't "make those cases unwinnable."
The decision came two weeks after the arrival of another serviceman, who served eight months in Iraq before fleeing to Canada with his wife and four young children. Army Pfc. Joshua Key, 26, served as a combat engineer in Fallujah and Ramadi, located in the violent Sunni Triangle area, before deserting while home on leave.
In Canada, he told reporters he refused to return to Iraq because of "the atrocities that were happening to the innocent people of Iraq."
Hinzman, whose case is the first to be decided by the refugee board, tried to raise similar arguments, but the board refused to hear those claims, along with those that he would be persecuted for following his conscience. But the board noted that the United States, as a democracy, would give Hinzman "full protection of a fair and independent . . . judicial process" if he returned to face trial.
Hinzman initially applied for non-combat, conscientious-objector status in the Army, but was denied. The refugee board said "Mr. Hinzman was no doubt guided by his moral code" in refusing to serve, but that he failed the test of a refugee fleeing persecution. The board found that his likely punishment in the United States would not be "not excessive or disproportionately severe."
The case had been followed closely in Canada, where public sentiment was overwhelmingly opposed to the invasion of Iraq. House, Hinzman's attorney, fled the Vietnam War in 1970, and Hinzman was supported by other former Vietnam resisters who stayed in Canada.
posted on March 25, 2005 08:17:23 AM new
Since you didn't state any point or reason for posting this and it has nothing to do with you I can only assume you're trolling and just want attention.
Or are you gloating because you don't have to go to Iraq and you think others should be punished for refusing?
posted on March 25, 2005 10:58:34 AM new
I feel for the guy, but I'm not sure any soldier thinks war is morally right, just something that needs to be done. He claims it's against his religion to kill, but who's isn't?
posted on March 25, 2005 12:06:31 PM new
Great, one deserter defends another deserter. whoopie
House, Hinzman's attorney, fled the Vietnam War in 1970
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Having not paid attention to the two other deserter's names.....I'm not clear on why Canada accepted them but not this mentioned deserter. Anyone know how their actions are, if they are, different?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Four More Years....YES!!!
posted on March 25, 2005 01:50:36 PM new
As it should be....... A word to the wise ain't necessary, it's the stupid ones that need the advice."
- Bill Cosby
posted on March 25, 2005 04:22:37 PM new
Maybe you can clarify this KD but I thought when you entered Canada that you had to declare when you would return to the US and if you didn't they would come looking for you. I could be wrong as I have been before, but do you know if that is true.
I don't think they are letting any deserters into Canada. I am sure they don't want what happened during Vietnam.
_________________
posted on March 25, 2005 06:42:41 PM new
Libra - From what I've read Canada has accepted some. But because, since the first couple of cases of this occurring, our government has put pressure on Canada not to do so...they now appear to be handling each on a case-by-case basis.
But I don't know the final decision on the first two...whether they were sent back into US custody or not. That's why I was wondering why this one would be different than those two.
posted on March 25, 2005 07:52:24 PM new
This article has a little more information. It is from the Navy Times.
An Army paratrooper who refused to fight in Iraq has found no refuge north of the border.
Jeremy Hinzman was denied political asylum in Canada on Thursday, a ruling that dealt a blow to other deserters here who argue such duty would force them to commit atrocities against civilians.
An immigration board ruled that Hinzman had not convinced its members he would face persecution or cruel and unusual punishment if returned to the United States.
Seven other American military personnel have applied for refugee status, and Hinzman’s lawyer estimated dozens of others are in hiding in Canada waiting to see how the government ruled. The attorney, Jeffry House, said Hinzman would appeal the ruling.
House said at a news conference that the Immigration and Refugee Board had not allowed him to argue that the war in Iraq is illegal and would make that complaint before a federal appeals court.
He said there were many problems with the ruling, describing it as filled with “deference” to the United States.
Immigration and Refugee Board member Brian Goodman, who wrote the ruling, said Hinzman might face some employment and social discrimination. But “the treatment does not amount to a violation of a fundamental human right, and the harm is not serious,” he wrote.
Canada has long opposed American wars; former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau declared his homeland “a refuge from militarism” during the Vietnam War and allowed the 30,000 to 50,000 American draft dodgers to settle here. Ottawa also opposed the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, but is also seeking to ease badly strained relations between the two governments.
Hinzman could face charges of desertion if sent home and would face up to five years in prison. He and seven other U.S. military deserters are being represented by House, a Wisconsin native who came to Canada in 1970 to avoid the draft during the Vietnam War.
The Pentagon has urged the deserters to return to the United States and take up their concerns at their respective military bases.
“We are an Army serving a nation at war,” the Army said in a statement after Thursday’s ruling. “Each of us volunteered to serve, and the vast majority serve honorably. AWOL and desertion are crimes that go against Army values, degrade unit readiness and, in a time of war, may put the lives of other soldiers at risk.”
Hinzman, 26, lives with his wife and young son in Toronto, where Quakers and the War Resisters coalition of anti-war groups have taken on his cause and provided some shelter.
Currently a bicycle messenger, Hinzman told an anti-war rally after the announcement that he would continue to fight for his right to remain in Canada, as well as the seven other young men seeking refugee status.
“Canada has a history for being a haven for people of conscience,” he said. “Hopefully that legacy will continue.”
He fled from Fort Bragg, N.C., in January 2004, weeks before his 82nd Airborne Division was due to go to Iraq. He had served three years in the Army, but had applied for conscientious objector status before his unit was sent to Afghanistan in 2002.
Hinzman argued before the board in December that he would have had to take part in war crimes if he went to Iraq, saying the war there is illegal. He said he would be persecuted if forced to return to the United States.
Hinzman’s lawyer estimated as many as 100 American war resisters are hiding in Canada, waiting to see how Hinzman’s case is played out before coming forward.
During the Vietnam era, young American men could be drafted into military service, but now enlistment in U.S. military is voluntary. The military attracts many young recruits with job skills training and programs that help pay for university.
