On Friday, Adam Palfi and his family will be picking up plane tickets to Europe.

By no means are they an early Christmas present. The tickets are for one-way flights back to Hungary.

After seven years building their lives in Canada, 17-year-old Adam, his 15-year-old brother Marton, his mother and stepfather learned last week that they're being deported at the end of the school semester.

"It's like ripping someone out of their home," said Palfi, a Grade 12 student at Westmount Secondary School.

"It really feels like they're trying to take away everything that myself and my parents have worked for."

The family came to Canada and claimed refugee status in September 2011, fleeing what Palfi described as violent abuse directed at him, his brother and his mother by his biological father.

"We tried going to the police but basically the way the police force works in Hungary, unless you get beat to death in front of them, they do not do anything," Palfi said.

He said the family's original hearing with Canada's Immigration and Refugee Board began in November 2012 but couldn't be completed. Their claim then languished for another six years.

During that time, the family got itself on its feet and his parents found employment as building superintendents in Hamilton.

Palfi said his mother, Erzsebet Almassy, has a PhD and was a college professor and an opera singer back in Budapest. His stepfather, Tibor Lakatos, was a fire alarm system engineer in Hungary.

The family's refugee hearing finally concluded in late spring and their claim was rejected.

"The board member who heard our case believed that Hungary can protect us, which is not true," said Palfi. He also claims his mother was called "untruthful."

"We were told that because my mom is well-educated, she can make up a story, a story that's not true," he said.

Sheridan Daly, a Grade 10 Westmount student and close friend of Marton, started an online petition Wednesday trying to gather support to keep the family in Canada.

"It makes me cry just thinking about it," said Daly. "These are people you just know you want to have in your life."

Daly said she has a modest goal of hoping 500 people — perhaps even 1,000 — will sign the online petition. As of noon Saturday, about 450 people had already signed.

"I've never been one to stand back," said Daly. "My family always taught me to stand up for what I believed in."

Several of Adam Palfi's friends are shocked and saddened by the deportation order.

"It's just heartbreaking," said 17-year-old Alex Mangroo, a Westmount student. "I feel it's unfair.

"To see my best friend go through this and have to leave, it feels like I'm losing a part of me."

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

Alisa Mangroo, Alex's sister, said Adam is a very hardworking, intelligent person.

"His whole family is incredibly nice, they're so welcoming," she said.

Dante DiMassimo, also a 17-year-old Westmount student, said he can't believe Canada wouldn't want people like Adam and his family in the country.

"They pay taxes, they're working citizens of the population, they do community involvement work," said DiMassimo. "Compared to myself, Adam has done multitudes of times the amount of community work that I've done.

"We're trying to get the ball rolling, trying to get more people behind them in the hope we can get some awareness and support for Adam and his family," he added.

Last week, the family met with a Canada Border Services Agency representative in Mississauga and were told the removal order must be enforced.

The family asked to stay until the end of the school year in June so Adam can graduate, but they were told they have to leave when the current semester ends.

The family has filed a Humanitarian and Compassionate application to stay in Canada but "it takes a very long time for a decision to be made and it does not affect the removal order," said Palfi.

"We definitely don't want to go back," he said.

sbuist@thespec.com

905-526-3226