Walnut Grove Lutheran Church and Minister John McCallum

humanitarian compassionate grounds: Figueroa stands with his family outside Walnut Grove Lutheran Church in Langley, B.C. on Dec. 23. 2015, according to Huffington Post Canada. Figueroa left the church sanctuary on his 49th birthday after gaining an exemption on Monday to stay in Canada on humanitarian and compassionate grounds from Immigration Minister John McCallum. The asylum seeker from El Salvador sobbed joyously in the embrace of his wife and then pumped his fists in victory outside Walnut Grove Lutheran Church in Langley, B.C. "Finally, finally I am free,'' he exclaimed on Wednesday to cheers by dozens of supporters who wept along with the man before spontaneously launching into a round of Happy Birthday. In July 2014, he won a judicial review from Federal Court that ordered his case be examined again by immigration officials. Figueroa was declared inadmissible to Canada in May 2010, despite having lived in B.C. with his family since 1997. But it wasn't until the new Liberal minister intervened this month that he was granted freedom. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.