Female U.S. Army deserter deported from Canada
The first female U.S. war deserter to flee to Canada will be sent back to the United States following an immigration board decision announced Thursday.
Kimberly Rivera, a mother of four young children who lives in Toronto with her husband, served in Iraq as a U.S. Army private in 2006.
Rivera became disillusioned with the mission and crossed the border into Canada while on leave in February 2007 after she was ordered to serve another tour in Iraq.
Michelle Robidoux, a spokeswoman for the War Resisters Support Campaign, said Thursday that Citizenship and Immigration Canada has ordered Rivera to leave the country by Sept. 20.
The War Resisters Support Campaign says Rivera, 30, will face harsh punishment in the United States if she's deported. The group says two other war resisters deported from Canada were each given prison sentences of more than a year.
The federal government ordered Rivera to leave Canada in January 2009.
She appealed that order but Thursday's decision came back with the same result.
