A Canadian judge has blocked the deportation of an Indian man because his wife has ADHD and will suffer ‘irreparable harm’ if they are separated.
Federal Judge Avvy Yao-Yao Go granted Indian immigrant Jagjit Singh’s stay of removal to India on Tuesday in a court filing viewed by the Daily Mail.
Singh came to Canada in 2021 on a temporary resident visa and made a refugee claim upon his arrival, according to the filing.
However, after he married his wife, identified in court documents as L.B., on January 13 2025, she applied to sponsor his permanent resident application, and Singh withdrew his refugee claim.
In the following months, Singh underwent the removal interview process by the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) while his permanent resident application was under review and was ultimately ordered to be deported.
Singh appealed to Canada’s federal court, claiming he would be in danger if he was sent back to India, and his removal would cause serious prejudice to his spouse due to her health conditions.
According to the filing, Go found evidence that Singh’s wife has ADHD and would experience ‘irreparable harm’ if he were deported.
‘In the case before me, there is evidence that L.B. suffers from ADHD which impairs her ability to manage time, stress focus and everyday responsibilities and that [Singh] provides her with support by, among other things, helping her maintain daily structure and reminders for medications and appointments, and providing her with emotional stability and mental health support,’ Go said.
‘In the end, taking into consideration the irreparable harm to [Singh’s] spouse on the… I find that granting the stay until the underlying [application] is determined would be just and equitable in all the circumstances of the case.’
Go’s reasoning sparked furious backlash online, with many accusing the judge of pushing her own agenda.
‘Okay, so we got migrant activist judges (with a history of attacking the Canadian population) letting migrant criminals off the hook over imaginary afflictions that aren’t life-threatening or his own,’ one person said.
‘We do not need activist judges – we need level-headed atheists who make decisions on evidence and logic,’ said another.
‘So our system refuses to remove someone who is here illegally based on a flimsy excuse,’ added a third person.
Others blasted the judge for accepting his wife’s ADHD as an excuse and said it was belittling to people with the condition.
‘I wonder how his wife survived before she met him?’ one person said. ‘This is beyond insulting. Not only to people with ADHD, but to our country. So pathetic,’ added another.
‘This is ridiculous. ADHD is not so debilitating that the judge should have made this decision,’ a third person said.
Go immigrated to Canada from Hong Kong in the 1980s and worked as Clinic Director of the Chinese and Southeast Asian Legal Clinic before becoming a judge.
‘Go has 30 years of advocacy and litigation experience on behalf of low-income racialized clients,’ according to her Canadian Bar Association (CBA) profile.
She told the CBA, ‘I worked exclusively in the legal clinic system helping low-income, racialized clients who faced multiple challenges in accessing the legal system.
‘I believe the work I did in the clinic system helped me become more empathetic and more open to appreciating the different experiences that different individuals have with the justice system.’
The Daily Mail has contacted Singh’s lawyer, the federal court, Judge Go, the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness and the CBSA for comment.