COUPLE IN QUAGMIRE FIGHT EXTRADITION

They Claim They're Being Framed, But A Legal Glitch Might Be What
Saves Them

An American couple arrested in Zeballos in January 2006 on warrants
from their home county in Colorado are immersed in a legal quagmire as
they fight extradition charges and pursue refugee status in Canada.

They spent seven months in jail on immigration holds but they're out
now, and for that at least, 36-year-old Lori Romero and Michael Welch,
33, are thankful. That freedom came at a price -- the cost of the both
of them being fitted with electronic ankle monitors was $16,000. They
borrowed the money from family in the U.S.

The Fort Collins prosecutor declined last week to comment on the case
other than to say through an assistant that the extradition process
will go ahead.

The warrants stem from a November 2004 standoff in Fort Collins,
Colo., that ended when Michael Welch's father was shot by a sheriff's
deputy.

Welch and Romero are wanted for first-degree assault of a peace
officer, and menacing. The state says Welch is wanted on weapons
offences and cultivation of marijuana, but Welch and Romero say those
charges were thrown out in U.S. federal court.

The dispute over these charges is what led to the standoff. They
maintain the U.S. police are framing them and they can't get a fair
trial in Colorado. They have applied for refugee status in Canada.

Vancouver lawyer Shepherd Moss is representing the couple on both the
extradition and the refugee-claim processes.

Canada doesn't usually accept people as refugees who've committed or
are even just accused of committing serious crimes in other countries,
said Moss.

"It's a very low standard of proof," he said in a telephone
interview.

Stockwell Day, the minister of public security, has deemed the couple
unworthy of refugee status because of the warrants from the U.S., said
Moss.

The Immigration and Refugee Board is considering Day's opinion as it
ponders the couple's refugee application.

Usually, extradition applications trump refugee claims, but not in
this case.

"If you're being extradited for crimes which, had they been committed
in Canada, would give you at least a 10-year jail sentence, that
automatically suspends your refugee case," said Moss.

"But in this case, the Department of Justice has equated their charges
in the States with crimes that have a seven-year sentence in Canada,
so their refugee claims are continuing."

Canada's view of the seriousness of the crime is in contrast to that
of the Colorado authorities, who estimate the assault charge carries a
jail sentences of 10 to 32 years.

As the wheels of justice creak slowly forward, Welch and Romero live
in a Port Coquitlam basement suite, their home since leaving jail on
Sept. 26, and try to get by on welfare. They're not allowed to work in
the home-remodelling business they had in the U.S. because they don't
have the necessary paperwork.

They don't want to go back to the U.S. and face the charges, saying
the police fabricated evidence against them.

"We went through all of that back home before we came here," said
Romero. "My husband won his federal court case [but] we saw multiple
cops take the stand and lie."

The couple was arrested in Zeballos after their van went into a ditch,
a Mountie ran their licence plates and saw the warrant.

Their 16-year-old son Anthony flew up at Christmas to join them in
Canada, and now his application for refugee status is attached to theirs.

"We have to feed the three of us on $150 a month," Romero
said.

"We always want to go back home. We love Colorado, not to say Canada
is bad.

"I love it here too, but our family is back home. My daughter's
pregnant and she's going to be having a baby in three months and I
can't be there for that."

She said they didn't know they were supposed to have applied for
refugee status upon arrival in Canada. "We thought we could go to a
lawyer and have him file the paperwork."

Their next court date is March 5 in B.C. Supreme Court in
Vancouver.

"We don't know where it will go from there. Either the judge will
throw it out or he'll set a hearing date," said Romero.

"Even though we're starving, we're still together. We always look at
the positive side of things. We've been through so much, it's going to
be a long haul and we know that, but we still have faith that justice
will prevail."