Canada’s Federal Court has overturned a Colorado woman’s refugee status after she claimed asylum from the US based on her gender identity.
Transgender woman Daria Bloodworth gained refugee status in Canada after successfully arguing that a combination of gun culture and rising transphobia put her at risk in America, CBC News reported.
Bloodworth, 36, told the the Refugee Appeal Division in 2019 that she had been stalked by her college roommate who she alleged had threatened her with a gun.
Bloodworth, who is now studying biological sciences at Yukon University, claimed she was the target of threats and violence from her former landlord and a debt collection agency, according to court documents,
In October 2022, the court determined that Colorado authorities were incapable of protecting her and that her safety couldn’t be guaranteed elsewhere in the US.
Now, Judge Christine Pallotta said the committee failed to identify ‘any gap in Colorado’s laws, which include state-level laws to protect transgender individuals’ and overturned their decision to grant protection.
Bloodworth plans to appeal the ruling to the Federal Court of Appeal.
‘It was made pretty clear from the get go that this was going to be an uphill battle, winning this thing, or even staying in Canada a little bit longer and not get murdered in the US,’ Bloodworth told CBC.
‘I honestly feel like this is home. I’m not going to say Canada’s perfect, but at least since I’ve moved here, I haven’t been threatened with a gun or threatened with a knife.
‘I haven’t been discriminated against because I’m transgender,’ she said.
Adding: ‘I feel like I could actually live here — if I was allowed to live here.’
Bloodworth’s criminal complaint against her Colorado State University roommate initially resulted in him being charged with menacing.
Bloodworth was also granted a protection order.
However, the case was dismissed a few months later, and a judge decided not to keep the protection order in place.
Bloodworth claimed the ex-roommate continued to stalk her, and said police did not respond to her calls for action.
‘Colorado’s open carry gun laws combined with the general climate of anti-trans hatred growing in the US could make [her] perpetually vulnerable and at risk to her life,’ Judge Mohan wrote when granting Bloodworth refugee status on 2022.
‘I further find that [she] does not have an [internal flight alternative] in the U.S. because relocation for a person with her profile, in her circumstances, would be unreasonable,’ Mohanadded.
‘It is unusual for cases from the United States to be approved as refugee cases in Canada,’ Vancouver immigration lawyer Zool Suleman, who is not involved in the case, told CBC.
‘Generally speaking, the U.S. is not seen a refugee-producing country.
‘In this specific case, clearly the federal court felt that further thought needed to be placed upon the kinds of protections available to the claimant. And we would need to keep an eye on it to see if it is turning into an area of growing persecution claims from the United States,’ he explained.
