A 21-year-old American and South Korean citizen has been handed a 120-day jail sentence after violating four deportation orders in "quick succession," according to a B.C. judge.
Junseo Hagh, also known as Ethan Hagh, pleaded guilty last Wednesday to one count each of returning to Canada (Burnaby) after a removal order and failing to present himself at a port of entry.
'Shitty coincidence'
Police arrested Hagh on Oct. 20 after he was found sleeping while charging his phone in the garage of a home under construction on El Camino Drive in Coquitlam, according to information presented by Crown prosecutor Heather Pineo.
He didn't respond to police questions about what he was doing there, and officers arrested him for breaking and entering, mischief and theft of electricity, Pineo said.
A search revealed an expired Korean passport in his name, and officers soon discovered he was wanted on an immigration warrant.
It turned out Hagh, whose family lives in California, had been removed from Canada on Aug. 11 after getting his fourth deportation order.
He had returned sometime later in August, however, according to a record of him having been questioned by Metro Vancouver Transit Police.
And on Aug. 23, a Port Moody Police officer wanted to arrest him, as the officer suspected Hagh had returned illegally, but there was no Canada Border Services Agency arrest warrant in the system.
On Sept. 7, an off-duty CBSA officer spotted Hagh in Burnaby charging his phone at a Save-On-Foods store on Kingsway.
The officer was able to get a video of Hagh, but by the time on-duty officers arrived, he was gone.
Pineo said Hagh had been at the Save-On on "numerous occasions" trying to shoplift, according to the store's staff and security.
It wasn't until Oct. 20 that the authorities caught up with him in the Coquitlam garage thanks to what Hagh himself described as a "shitty coincidence," according to Pineo.
Removed from Canada five times
Hagh, who was born in Los Angeles, first came to Canada in February 2016 on a study permit and attended Pinetree Secondary in Coquitlam.
His permit expired in February 2021, but he didn't leave, so in December 2022 he was issued an exclusion order banning him from Canada for one year.
He was removed from the country but was back in less than three months, according to Pineo.
After that, he was deported and removed from Canada four more times.
He was even handed a 40-day jail sentence this summer before being removed for the fourth time as soon as he got out of jail.
He was back within weeks.
'He continues to return'
Pineo said Hagh should get a 120-day jail sentence for his latest offence.
She pointed to the sheer number of times he had been removed from the country and returned.
"He knows he's not supposed to be in Canada without authorization yet he continues to return," Pinneo said. "Hopefully a long term of incarceration will deter him."
As a point in Hagh's favour, Pineo noted his family was willing to support him, but she questioned whether he was ready to accept their help.
After his last deportation in August, Hagh’s parents said Hagh had told them he didn't want to return to California yet and didn't want their help, according to Pineo.
Pinneo also took issue with Hagh's apology letter to the court.
"I think it's a letter of 'I don't like jail,'" she said.
'High performing student'
Defence lawyer Roy Kim said Hagh should be sentenced to the 52 days he has already been in jail because of his difficult background, his young age, his early guilty plea, the remorse outlined in his apology letter, his lack of a criminal record and his family support.
Kim said Hagh had been a “high performing student” and school “math champion” while at Pinetree in Grade 9, but trouble at home and a difficult social situation at school because of having moved schools every year since Grade 5 made life unbearable, so Hagh ran away “a lot” and was eventually expelled.
Kim described Hagh’s relationship with his parents as “disastrous.”
But Hagh now plans to pursue a career fixing and flipping real estate in the U.S., and his father has committed to contribute $60,000 USD toward that endeavor, Kim said.
Hagh’s father wrote a letter to the court outlining his support, but Hagh didn’t want to “hear or know the content of the letter” because of his relationship with his father, according to Kim, so the letter was not read out loud.
When questioned by the judge, however, Kim said that wouldn’t stop Hagh from accepting the money.
Hagh has struggled with mental health challenges and has been diagnosed with Tourette syndrome, according to Kim.
He could not speak during the hearing “due to stress,” Kim said.
'Serious consequences'
B.C. provincial court Judge James Sutherland said he accepted the mitigating factors outlined by Hagh’s lawyer but said the number of immigration order violations and the fact they happened in such “quick succession” was aggravating.
He said the court needed to render a sentence with “serious consequences” to deter law breakers and assure law abiding citizens and other people subject to the Immigration and Refugee Act.
“It’s a message to law abiding citizens as well as potential violators,” he said.
He sentenced Hagh to 120 days in jail, minus enhanced credit for time already served.
That left Hagh with 43 days still to go on his sentence.
The Burnaby NOW reached out to CBSA for information about how Hagh was able to return to Canada five times after being removed.
In an emailed statement, the agency said it is not its practice to provide details on individual cases.
Follow Cornelia Naylor on X/Twitter @CorNaylor
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