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This newspaper has spoken with a number of Uyghur students across the country, removing their real names and any identifying information. (The students say the families of Uyghurs who speak to the press outside of China are at risk of imprisonment or other punishment.)

The students detail how the situation in China has left them in a precarious position. They say they’re unable to return home because of fears they’ll be detained and sent to the re-education camps, which they liken to prisons. But returning home is a possibility they may have to face when their visas or passports expire. The Canadian government has accepted some Uyghurs as refugees, but has not made any guarantee against deporting them like some other countries have.

The students arrived in Canada earlier in the decade, like most other Uyghurs studying in the country. Few Uyghurs students have arrived recently, they say, as they are nowadays heavily restricted from leaving China. The individuals we spoke to say it was already difficult for Uyghurs to obtain passports to travel and study abroad when they left several years ago, and that they had to collect signatures from local officials to obtain approval.

Photo by FABRICE COFFRINI / AFP/Getty Images

Several of them say their applications were helped by connections their families had to local government.

A lot of the students still have years left on their passports and visas before they have to worry about possible deportation. The more immediate problem for them is the stress of wondering about the safety of their families.