A Jamaican-born standout athlete is facing deportation from Canada after a removal order was issued to his family on Monday by the North American country’s Border Services Agency.

Tamarri Lindo, 20, a former Kingston College athlete who is now enrolled at York University in Toronto, says his impending deportation is putting a damper on his hopes of representing Canada at the Paris Olympics.

A top-ranked sprint hurdler at the collegiate level, Lindo was set to compete at the Olympics trials in May.

“My goal was to make the 2024 Paris Olympics. But now, it feels like everything is being taken away,” Lindo told Toronto’s CTV News.

“I feel like I could have a mental health breakdown. My heart is sinking,” he added.

Tamarri Lindo with his family, including dad George, who are facing deportation from Canada.

Lindo and his family arrived in Canada in April 2019, following which Lindo’s father, George, filed a refugee claim for political asylum.

According to George, the family was targeted by gangs in Jamaica because of his political work, which included him mobilising support for the People’s National Party.

The asylum claim outlined several occasions in which the family was subject to violence, including a 2012 election incident in which George’s neck had been slashed.

However their asylum claim has been rejected three times, with the Canadian authorities noting that they were ineligible for asylum on humanitarian and compassionate grounds.

In rejecting the Lindo’s application, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada said that the violence experienced by the senior Lindo could not be directly linked to his political activism.

The agency further argued that crime, including murder, is widespread throughout Jamaica, noting that the risks faced by the family were shared by all persons living in Jamaica.