This year should be one of the happiest in Sarah Alsaleh’s life.
The 25-year-old newlywed just moved into a new house with her husband and she was early in her pregnancy with her first child.
“I couldn’t stop crying,” she said.
Last month Alsaleh, with eight members of her family—including three children under 10 years old —were served deportation orders that would send them to Jordan, set for July 14.
Alsaleh said she doesn’t remember living in Jordan.
Last month, Alsaleh had a miscarriage. She told CBC Hamilton she believes the stress from the deportation order contributed to losing her baby.
“When I talk to my lawyer, he was like, ‘Sarah, maybe you have a higher risk of of high risk pregnancy and you can’t be dealing with this much of stress.’ But, I’m losing my family, maybe I’m losing also my husband,” she said.
Family came to Canada to be together
Alsaleh’s family came to Canada in February 2022. She said before coming to North America, her family had been living in Qatar for decades.
She said they left Qatar because they were not citizens, and as foreigners, they had no protection.
“When we arrived here [in Canada], we felt so safe. We felt like life smiles to us,” she said.
Her father, Yasir, was born and raised in Jordan. Her mother, Ana, is from Romania. Alsaleh said her parents faced Islamophobia in Romania and were in danger in Jordan.
“We have a problem there. We have a danger there. It’s a risk for us to go there,” she said.
Alsaleh and her family said they were not comfortable explaining the risks they face in Jordan because of safety concerns.
The government of Canada’s website has a travel advisory for the country, stating visitors should “exercise a high degree of caution in Jordan due to the threat of terrorism, civil unrest and demonstrations.”
Yasir Alsaleh and his wife, Ana Marecek, brought their children and grandchildren to Canada, seeking to be reunited with Marecek’s sister. They are now all facing deportation. (Cara Nickerson/CBC)
Alsaleh said her family chose Canada because Alsaleh’s aunt, her mother’s sister, immigrated to Hamilton in 2017 and is pursuing permanent resident status.
“She was separated from my mother when she came here,” Alsaleh said, adding that little over a year after being reunited, her mother and aunt will be separated again.
Alsaleh’s husband Adnan Taha, 36, was born and raised in Hamilton.
He said the whole experience has changed how he sees the immigration process in his country.
“To see family ripped away from each other… You know, I really wish Canada would have a focus on family reunification,” he said.
Immigration process can be overwhelming, confusing to new Canadians
Canada’s immigration process can be “very confusing” for many people entering the country, said immigration lawyer Daniel Kingwell, who is representing Alsaleh’s family.
“It’s hard to know what to file. It’s hard to know how everything interacts,” he said.
Alsaleh said her family had an immigration consultant when they arrived in February 2022 and did not know they needed a lawyer to properly navigate the immigration system.
“When we applied for refugee (status), our consultant only knows basic legal things,” she said.
“But we didn’t know that.”
The family was initially seeking refugee status, but Alsaleh said they filed paperwork improperly and did not have adequate legal counsel in the crucial first few months of settling in Canada.
Marriage to Canadian citizen won’t stop deportation
Taha and Alsaleh met through family friends and were married this past January.
But their marriage won’t stop Alsaleh from being deported.
Karine Martel, spokesperson for the Canadian Border Services Agency, told CBC Hamilton, “Being married to a Canadian citizen does not automatically prevent the removal of a foreign national.”
Kingwell said from the perspective of the CBSA, Alsaleh and her family’s deportation is business as usual. “People get deported. Families get separated. That’s the norm. Apply from abroad like everyone else.”
“People’s intuition is to say if you’re married to someone, you should be allowed to stay, but for a variety of reasons that’s not the case.”
He said the whole immigration process, from refugee claims to humanitarian applications, are “all highly discretionary”, and depend on the CBSA officers handling a case.
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada spokesperson Isabelle Dubois said someone in Alsaleh’s position would likely need to apply for an Authorization to return to Canada following deportation.
Deportation process takes mental, physical toll on family
Taha said the deportation has taken a toll on the whole family’s physical and mental health.
He is still “heartbroken” over his wife losing her pregnancy, he said.
But Taha said he is also heartbroken watching the affect the deportation has had on Alsaleh’s nine-year-old sister and three-year-old niece, who have had to attend CBSA meetings about the deportation.
Sarah Alsaleh’s younger sister, Lujain, and her niece, Haya, have been negatively impacted by the stress of their family’s deportation. (Cara Nickerson/CBC )
“Directly after those meetings they’re withdrawn. They’re just, like, almost catatonic after those meetings, you know, and they’re just weeping silently,” he said.
He said Alsaleh and her family have all had to attend counselling to deal with the stress of the deportation order.
“Nobody wants to be separated,” Taha said, adding that even if he and Alsaleh successfully apply for her return to Canada, she will not be the same without her family.
Montreal Alouettes wide receiver Tyson Philpot has announced he will be out for the rest of the CFL season.
The Delta, B.C., native posted the news on his Instagram page Thursday.
“To Be Continued. Shoutout my team, the fans of the CFL and the whole city of Montreal! I can’t wait to be back healthy and write this next chapter in 2025,” the statement read.
Philpot, 24, injured his foot in a 33-23 win over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats on Aug. 10 and was placed on the six-game injured list the next week.
The six-foot-one, 195-pound receiver had 58 receptions, 779 yards and five touchdowns in nine games for the league-leading Alouettes in his third season.
Philpot scored the game-winning touchdown in Montreal’s Grey Cup win last season to punctuate a six-reception, 63-yard performance.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) — Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa sustained a concussion for the third time in his NFL career, leaving his team’s game Thursday night against Buffalo after running into defensive back Damar Hamlin and hitting the back of his head against the turf.
Tagovailoa remained down for about two minutes before getting to his feet and walking to the sideline after the play in the third quarter. He made his way to the tunnel not long afterward, looking into the stands before smiling and departing toward the locker room.
The Dolphins needed almost no time before announcing it was a concussion. The team said he had two during the 2022 season, and Tagovailoa was diagnosed with another concussion when he was a college player at Alabama.
Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel said Tagovailoa would get “proper procedural evaluation” and “appropriate care” on Friday.
“The furthest thing from my mind is, ‘What is the timeline?’ We just need to evaluate and just worry about my teammate, like the rest of the guys are,” McDaniel said. “We’ll get more information tomorrow and take it day by day from here.”
Some players saw Tagovailoa in the locker room after the game and said they were encouraged. Tagovailoa spoke with some players and then went home after the game, McDaniel said.
“I have a lot of love for Tua, built a great relationship with him,” said quarterback Skylar Thompson, who replaced Tagovailoa after the injury. “You care about the person more than the player and everybody in the organization would say the same thing. Just really praying for Tua and hopefully everything will come out all right.”
Tagovailoa signed a four-year, $212 million extension before this season — a deal that makes him one of the highest-paid players in the NFL — and was the NFL’s leading passer in Week 1 this season. Tagovailoa left with the Dolphins trailing 31-10, and that was the final score.
“If you know Tua outside of football, you can’t help but feel for him,” Bills quarterback Josh Allen said on Amazon following the game. “He’s a great football player but he’s an even greater human being. He’s one of the best humans on the planet. I’ve got a lot of love for him and I’m just praying for him and his family, hoping everything’s OK. But it’s tough, man. This game of football that we play, it’s got its highs and it’s got its lows — and this is one of the lows.”
Tagovailoa’s college years and first three NFL seasons were marred by injury, though he positioned himself for a big pay bump with an injury-free and productive 2023 as he led the Dolphins into the playoffs. He threw for 29 touchdowns and a league-best 4,624 yards last year.
When, or if, he can come back this season is anyone’s guess. Tagovailoa said in April 2023 that the concussions he had in the 2022 season left him contemplating his playing future. “I think I considered it for a time,” he said then, when asked if he considered stepping away from the game to protect himself.
McDaniel said it’s not his place to say if Tagovailoa should return to football. “He’ll be evaluated and we’ll have conversations and progress as appropriate,” McDaniel said.
Tagovailoa was hurt Thursday on a fourth-down keeper with about 4:30 left in the third. He went straight ahead into Hamlin and did not slide, leading with his right shoulder instead.
Hamlin was the player who suffered a cardiac arrest after making a tackle during a Monday night game in January 2023 at Cincinnati, causing the NFL to suspend a pivotal game that quickly lost significance in the aftermath of a scary scene that unfolded in front of a national television audience.
Tagovailoa wound up on his back, both his hands in the air and Bills players immediately pointed at him as if to suggest there was an injury. Dolphins center Aaron Brewer quickly did the same, waving to the sideline.
Tagovailoa appeared to be making a fist with his right hand as he lay on the ground. It was movement consistent with something that is referred to as the “fencing response,” which can be common after a traumatic brain injury.
Tagovailoa eventually got to his feet. McDaniel grabbed the side of his quarterback’s head and gave him a kiss on the cheek as Tagovailoa departed. Thompson came into the game to take Tagovailoa’s spot.
“I love Tua on and off the football field,” Bills edge Von Miller said. “I’m a huge fan of him. I can empathize and sympathize with him because I’ve been there. I wish him the best.”
Tagovailoa’s history with concussions — and how he has since worked to avoid them — is a huge part of the story of his career, and now comes to the forefront once again.
He had at least two concussions during the 2022 season. He was hurt in a Week 3 game against Buffalo and cleared concussion protocol, though he appeared disoriented on that play but returned to the game.
The NFL later changed its concussion protocol to mandate that if a player shows possible concussion symptoms — including a lack of balance or stability — he must sit out the rest of the game.
Less than a week later, in a Thursday night game at Cincinnati, Tagovailoa was concussed on a scary hit that briefly knocked him unconscious and led to him being taken off the field on a stretcher.
His second known concussion of that season came in a December game against Green Bay, and he didn’t play for the rest of the 2022 season. After that, Tagovailoa began studying ways where he may be able to fall more safely and protect himself against further injury — including studying jiu-jitsu.
“I’m not worried about anything that’s out of my hands,” McDaniel said. “I’m just worried about the human being.”
NEW YORK (AP) — When her husband turns on the television to hear news about the upcoming presidential election, that’s often a signal for Lori Johnson Malveaux to leave the room.
It can get to be too much. Often, she’ll go to a TV in another room to watch a movie on the Hallmark Channel or BET. She craves something comforting and entertaining. And in that, she has company.
While about half of Americans say they are following political news “extremely” or “very” closely, about 6 in 10 say they need to limit how much information they consume about the government and politics to avoid feeling overloaded or fatigued, according to a new survey from the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research and USAFacts.
Make no mistake: Malveaux plans to vote. She always does. “I just get to the point where I don’t want to hear the rhetoric,” she said.
The 54-year-old Democrat said she’s most bothered when she hears people on the news telling her that something she saw with her own eyes — like the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol — didn’t really happen.
“I feel like I’m being gaslit. That’s the way to put it,” she said.
Sometimes it feels like ‘a bombardment’
Caleb Pack, 23, a Republican from Ardmore, Oklahoma, who works in IT, tries to keep informed through the news feeds on his phone, which is stocked with a variety of sources, including CNN, Fox News, The Wall Street Journal and The Associated Press.
Yet sometimes, Pack says, it seems like a bombardment.
“It’s good to know what’s going on, but both sides are pulling a little bit extreme,” he said. “It just feels like it’s a conversation piece everywhere, and it’s hard to escape it.”
Media fatigue isn’t a new phenomenon. A Pew Research Center survey conducted in late 2019 found roughly two in three Americans felt worn out by the amount of news there is, about the same as in a poll taken in early 2018. During the 2016 presidential campaign, about 6 in 10 people felt overloaded by campaign news.
But it can be particularly acute with news related to politics. The AP-NORC/USAFacts poll found that half of Americans feel a need to limit their consumption of information related to crime or overseas conflicts, while only about 4 in 10 are limiting news about the economy and jobs.
It’s easy to understand, with television outlets like CNN, Fox News Channel and MSNBC full of political talk and a wide array of political news online, sometimes complicated by disinformation.
“There’s a glut of information,” said Richard Coffin, director of research and advocacy for USAFacts, “and people are having a hard time figuring out what is true or not.”
Women are more likely to feel they need to limit media
In the AP-NORC poll, about 6 in 10 men said they follow news about elections and politics at least “very” closely, compared to about half of women. For all types of news, not just politics, women are more likely than men to report the need to limit their media consumption, the survey found.
White adults are also more likely than Black or Hispanic adults to say they need to limit media consumption on politics, the poll found.
Kaleb Aravzo, 19, a Democrat, gets a baseline of news by listening to National Public Radio in the morning at home in Logan, Utah. Too much politics, particularly when he’s on social media sites like TikTok and Instagram, can trigger anxiety and depression.
“If it pops up on my page when I’m on social media,” he said, “I’ll just scroll past it.”
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Sanders reported from Washington. David Bauder writes about media for the AP. Follow him at http://x.com/dbauder.
The AP poll of 1,019 adults was conducted July 29-August 8, 2024, using a sample drawn from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for all respondents is plus or minus 4.0 percentage points.
