Clean cut and wearing a navy suit, suspenders and a booming southern American accent, it was clear that the muscular, former professional athlete seated at a table in Kelowna's Black Press Media office, is not from Kelowna.
The man, who filed a refugee claim at a Canadian border crossing near Vancouver nearly six years ago, will be referred to as Todd Smith in order to protect his identity from members of a faction of the Mexican cartel that he used to work with.
"They want to kill me," Smith said.
Smith came to Black Press Media to share his life story in order to shine light on the limited options available to people looking to escape gang-related violence, in hopes that other people who have spent their childhood immersed in criminal activity can one day have the option to seek amnesty and live peacefully in another country.
Smith's case, from the day he made a refugee claim at a port near Vancouver nearly six years ago, to the day in early December that he was ordered to return to the United States, highlights the lack of options available to people from developed countries who have fallen into a life of crime and want out.
Darlene Dort, a business lawyer out of Vancouver, has been helping Smith navigate his refugee claim on a pro-bono basis. She has also been working to raise awareness of the gaps in the system that people, like Smith, can fall through when seeking refuge in Canada from gang violence.
Over the last few years on Smith's behalf, Dort has submitted applications to Refugees and Citizenship Canada, a leave for Judicial Review in the Federal Courts, a complaint to the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal and letters to several U.S. Senators and Canadian Members of Parliament about the case. Black Press Media has reviewed copies of the signed documents and related evidence.
"His life journey often sounds implausible, but I assure you that there is not one part of it that has not been corroborated by taped conversations," Dort said about the challenges Smith has faced as a refugee claimant in Canada.
Growing up poor the southern U.S.
Smith was born in a poor, small, southern U.S. city. He described it as a predominantly white neighbourhood that was known for producing and distributing cannabis and meth. As a young child he helped his mother traffic drugs 鈥� just as she had done with her father, and like many of his cousins and friends did with their families.
鈥淚 didn鈥檛 even think of it as bad, it was just what we did,鈥� Smith said.
As a child, Smith helped his mother deal drugs and interacted with other known criminals on a regular basis.
His own life path into crime began to solidify at seven years old when a dispute escalated and he threw a rock, blinding a child who was the relative of a powerful drug producer and dealer in his neighbourhood. Still before the age of 10, he shot a BB gun at the face of a young girl, which eventually led to her death.
A few years later he shot another child with a BB gun, causing injury.
While he was not reprimanded at home, Smith did face punishment for his actions from the State. He spent much of his youth, between the ages of 13 and 16 in juvenile detention centres and institutional facilities, only completing a Grade 8 education.
As Smith entered his teenage years, a faction of the Mexican cartel moved into his neighbourhood and the Smith family quickly befriended them. He remembers being enamoured with the jewelry, parties, fancy cars, lavish lifestyle and security that his new neighbours enjoyed.
鈥淚 wanted that lifestyle. I wanted in.鈥�
No longer attending school as an early teenager, Smith was now committed to helping his mother with the relatively low-level drug dealing operation that his family ran, with dreams of becoming "successful" like his cartel-associated neighbours.
It was not long before his cartel-associated neighbours began to take note and offered him small jobs, which Smith thought of as "mini tests."
鈥淵ou get into it not realizing the things you see will trap you in it for life."
Introduction to the cartel
Over the years he became numb to the crime and drug trafficking he was involved in and instead focused on the money, social status and security it provided him.
Smith鈥檚 mother was proud of his accomplishments and he was able to provide for his family 鈥� which now included multiple children with multiple women 鈥� with the money he was earning in the criminal enterprises as a drug trafficker.
Eventually, Smith was formally brought into the faction of the cartel he had been working for, in a spiritual ceremony.
Smith was predominantly involved in drug dealing and trafficking but claims to have never been arrested or charged with criminal offences as an adult.
During this period in his life, Smith worked out incessantly between jobs, eventually becoming a professional athlete. He lived in a large home, dated beautiful women, drove luxury cars. Other than the occasional instance of violence, he was in many ways removed from the street-level destruction and pain caused by the influx of the drugs he distributed to communities.
However, Smith said people cannot escape the dark side of gang violence forever. Slowly, the intensity and violence he was surrounded with began to escalate and weigh on him.
Now as a father to multiple children, Smith had softened and was more aware of the implications violence, drugs and crime had on the community
One day 鈥� that he says will forever be burned into his memory 鈥� Smith observed what he describes as particularly heinous crime, the shooting of an innocent teenager who was not much older than his eldest child.
"He did not deserve to die."
Planning his escape
While he was powerless against the cartel's lethal actions in that moment, Smith said it was that incident in particular that made him decide he no longer wanted to be complicit in the violent criminal world he had been immersed in since birth.
"The last couple of shootings really impacted me."
He quietly began searching for a way out.
The trouble is when it comes to the cartel, leaving is not an option.
Smith said he quickly learned that his distance from the cartel and past associations put not only his own, but also his loved ones' lives at risk.
As Smith moved around to different states, his friends and family put their own lives at risk to pass on messages warning him of the violent people searching for him.
Smith was shaken when his grandfather was badly beaten by gang members wanting to send a message. A close friend was found beaten and dead shortly after helping Smith leave the state.
Out of desperation, Smith reached out to local law enforcement, then the FBI, the federal Drug Enforcement Administration and Homeland security as a confidential informant.
Dort confirmed that she has been in the room with Smith when he has spoken to the FBI about the cartel and that she herself has been in contact with the FBI about the case and possible protection measures.
Smith said that his goal in working with law enforcement was to provide information that would remove drugs and violent criminals from the street, in exchange for protection for himself and his loved ones.
While Smith's tips appeared to lead to arrests and large drug seizures, he was not put into witness protection or given a confidential informant number, Dort said.
"He made the conscious decision to give everything he knew to the FBI and law enforcement to stop the cartel from killing any more of his family and friends and innocent people," she said.
In fact, Smith said his willingness to share information about the cartel put him and his family at even greater risk, and he was now labelled a "snitch."
Smith said that over the past decade, numerous relatives and friends have been badly beaten, shot or mysteriously found dead by those who he suspects are members of the cartel searching for him.
Smith alleges that the FBI has done nothing to stop the violence to his friends and family, despite his pleas and tips.
Black Press Media requested comment from the FBI on options available to those who want to co-operate with law enforcement for a chance at leaving gang life, but did not receive a response by publication.
Coming to Canada
Smith alleges that multiple levels of law enforcement in the United States have told him they will not protect him from the cartel.
Eventually, out of desperation, Smith travelled north with only the designer clothes on his back, until he reached a port near Vancouver in 2019 and made a refugee claim.
He was held at a remand centre for a week while the Canada Border Services Agency figured out what to do with him 鈥� a straight, white, able-bodied American citizen wearing expensive clothes who claims to be facing violence at the hands of one of the most powerful crime syndicates in the world.
After a week, Smith was released and allowed to enter Canada as a refugee claimant. It often takes years for claims to be heard, and in the interim asylum seekers are allowed to live in Canada.
As claims can take multiple years to be completed, there were more than 150,000 pending claims awaiting decision at the end of 2023.
Of all of those awaiting a decision, more than 37,000 people's claims were approved and 9,000 were denied in 2023.
Additionally, of all those who sought asylum in 2023, 157 of the new claims were from American citizens. Canada did not accept a single American refugee in 2023, and denied 123 claims. More than 220 claims from Americans were still pending at the end of the year.
People can seek asylum in Canada as either a Convention Refugee, meaning they face persecution from the government in their home country for their race, religion, sexual or gender identity, membership in a particular social group or political opinion. They can also be eligible for refugee status as a "person in need of protection," if they would be subjected to danger, torture, death, cruel and unusual treatment or punishment if returned to their home country, according to the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada.
However, a person cannot be considered a Convention Refugee or a person in need of protection if they have committed a crime or act contrary to the "purposes and principles of the United Nations," according to the immigration and refugee board.
A person's claim can also be denied if they are from a country, like the U.S., where they have rights and a functioning legal system and law enforcement.
For the last six years, Smith has lived in limbo, unable to work without a visa for much of his time in Canada, and not able to access many of the housing resources typically available to refugee claimants, as he is not a historically marginalized person.
Smith said that public shelters were not safe for him as his large frame and deep southern accent do not grant him the ability to blend into a crowd. He said that almost immediately, several people had suspicions about his identity and began asking questions, forcing him to flee once again.
He spent multiple nights sleeping on the streets of Vancouver before eventually relocating to the Okanagan where he has worked odd jobs for the past five years.
After six years of waiting, Smith's refugee claim was denied and a deportation order was enacted for early December, 2024. Dort and Smith have appealed the decision in the Refugee Appeal Division, but were denied.
On Smith's behalf, Dort has also submitted a Pre Removal Risk Assessment to Immigration Refugees and Citizenship Canada, a complaint to the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal and a leave for judicial review in the Federal Court of Canada.
In the documents, Dort argues that Smith faces violence in every city in America, as the cartel has infiltrated the drug trade in nearly every community. Smith also contends that he was denied protection from U.S. law enforcement on multiple occasions.
Further, she says that as Smith owes child support payments to the mothers of his children, if he is to start working a lawful job and uses his social insurance number, the women will be notified immediately and will likely contact the cartel.
In the Pre Risk Removal Assessment refusal, the senior immigration officer who denied Smith's claim based the decision on past involvement in criminality, citing a murder at 18 years old, which Smith denies.
Dort and Smith contend that the reasons for refusal are not factually correct. While the document states that Smith killed a boy when he was 18, Smith says he committed the accidental murder when he was 10 years old and does not have a criminal record from the offence as he was a juvenile.
The immigration officer also stated that there is not enough evidence to prove that protection had been denied or could be denied to Smith in the U.S.A.
"I conclude that the applicant would not likely be at risk of torture or likely to face a risk of cruel and unusual treatment or punishment if returned to the USA," the officer said.
Black Press Media requested comment from the Canada Border Services Agency about protections available to people who claim they cannot be protected in their country of origin, even if the country is the United States.
While border services agency cannot comment on specific cases, it did say that all refugee claimants have access to due process and procedural fairness and can contest a removal order if their claim is not approved and they are not granted refugee status.
A Canadian Border Service Agency said; "Once individuals have exhausted all legal avenues of appeal and due process that can stay a removal, they are expected to respect our laws and leave Canada or be removed."
Smith has since left Canada and his whereabouts are currently unknown to Black Press Media.
