"It was a complete relief," Rivera told The Canadian Press in the wake of the ruling. (We haven't been able to reach her, but if we do, we'll post an update.)
"What Kim and her lawyer put forward was the evidence of what has happened to other U.S. soldiers who have deserted and spoken out," Michelle Robidoux, spokesman for the War Resisters Support Campaign in Toronto, tells Unfair Park. "Soldiers who have spoken out publicly in opposition to the war have faced targeted punishment while a majority of deserters get an administrative discharge." Boise soldier Robin Long, she points out, was ordered to serve 15 months in a Naval brig near San Diego. "Now Kim will get a chance to have her PRRA looked at again with that issue front and center," Robidoux says.
Rivera has a month to submit a new pre-removal risk assessment,
and Robidoux says they expect a decision in two to four months. "If
they find she does not face persecution they'll give her a new date to
leave voluntarily or face deportation. If she wins, then she gets to
stay here."