Biography
Jeremy Hinzman is an Iraq War resister who was the first American deserter to seek refugee status in Canada. He enlisted in the U.S. Army as a paratrooper with the 82nd Airborne Division and deserted in 2004 to avoid participating in the Iraq War. Hinzman said the U.S. invasion violated international human rights standards.
He was one of the first to have his application for refugee status rejected—a decision he unsuccessfully appealed to the Federal Court and the Federal Court of Appeal. His request to appeal the decision to the Supreme Court was rejected in November 2007. At that time, he filed for a pre-removal risk assessment with Citizenship and Immigration Canada, which determines if a denied refugee applicant would be subject to torture, death or a risk of cruel and unusual treatment or punishment if returned to their country of origin.
By 2009 he had spent five years in Canada and had a wife and two children, one of whom was born in Canada. He changed tack and rather than asylum, asked to apply for permanent residence based on humanitarian and compassionate grounds. In 2010, the Federal Court of Appeal ruled that his case should be heard by the Immigration and Refugees department. After that it’s unclear what happened, though post-2010 there are no reports he was ever deported.
Jeremy Hinzman became one of the most prominent U.S. Iraq War resisters to seek refuge in Canada after leaving the United States Army rather than deploying to Iraq. He and his family relocated to Toronto and pursued immigration relief, turning his case into a focal point for public debate over conscientious objection, the legality and morality of the Iraq War, and whether resisters should be allowed to remain in Canada.
Canadian immigration authorities rejected his refugee claim, and he faced removal proceedings, but his deportation was stayed while courts reviewed aspects of his case. Subsequent appellate rulings required decision-makers to more fully consider claimed hardships and the impact of his moral and religious objections when assessing humanitarian relief, keeping his situation in prolonged legal limbo and sustaining his visibility as an anti-war figure
