Langley resident José Figueroa says no matter what the school system may say, his children are Canadian.
Daughters Ruby and Esmeralda and son José Ivan were all born in Canada and currently attend schools in the Langley school district.
Up until last year, they were treated the same as any other Canadian-born children, Figueroa says.
But then, the district sent a letter to José and his wife Ivania, saying the children were “non-fee paying international students” and the parents would have to provide proof of residency in Langley, proof of employment and proof they filed a tax return to verify that they are “ordinarily resident” in Canada.
José Figueroa has been waging a well-publicized fight against an attempt by immigration authorities to deport him back to his native El Salvador over his connection to an anti-government group that now governs the Central American country.
He is refusing to provide the requested documents to prove residency, saying the school district already has his work permit and his children’s birth certificates.
“They are all Canadian citizens,” Figueroa told The Times.
“That doesn’t make any sense, that the status of my wife and I would interfere with their status.”
He said the question is more than a point of principle.
If he and his wife should be deported, Figueroa said, the children might have to pay thousands of dollars in fees to keep attending school.
A spokesperson for the Langley School District, communications manager Sandy Wakeling, said privacy issues prevent him from discussing the specifics of the Figueroa case, but he did want to make it clear the children will be allowed to continue attending their schools despite the disagreement.
“At no time, presently or in the future, is the children’s enrollment in jeopardy,” Wakeling told The Times.
He said the category of “non-fee paying international student” is used to identify children of parents who are not Canadian but are living locally.
It is intended to distinguish them from non-Canadian children whose parents do pay fees to have them study in Langley schools, Wakeling said.
He went on to say the wording simply means the parents of children in the Figueroa family’s category are not paying direct fees to the school district and don’t have to; the provincial ministry of education will cover them.
Wakeling was unable to say why the district did not put the Figueroa children in that category when the oldest, José Ivan, started classes 10 years ago.
“In theory, it should have been asked for from day one,” Wakeling said.
He added the district is legally required to categorize the children that way, or run the risk of running afoul of provincial education authorities who could deny the school district funding for such students.
“If we were were audited [by the ministry] they could withhold funding.”
Figueroa provided The Times with a letter from the Langley school district international student program that says the fact the Figueroa children are Canadian “does not, by itself, necessarily qualify a child for provincial education funding” and goes on to say the district will continue to request proof the parents are “ordinarily resident” in Canada.
Figueroa was ordered deported from Canada for belonging to the left-wing Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN), a group linked to violent acts against the regime that ruled the country during the civil war from 1980 to 1992.
Even though the FMLN went on to win a nonviolent and democratic election to become the government of El Salvador and even though the government of Canada has formally recognized the FMLN, the immigration laws still consider it a terrorist group.
Supporters of the Figueroa family have waged a high-profile publicity campaign to overturn the extradition order under the banner of “We are José” that has generated news coverage by local, national and international media outlets.
