MONTREAL (AP) – American actor Randy Quaid was ordered released Thursday by Canada’s Immigration and Refugee Board but still faces being sent back to the United States next week.
Quaid appeared before the board for a detention review. A Canada Border Services Agency official told the board member hearing the case that Quaid was arrested because it was felt he wouldn’t comply with an order to leave the country next Wednesday. But that fear was rejected by the board member and Quaid was ordered released.
Quaid, 65, was informed this week he would be sent back to the United States, where he faces an outstanding warrant and pending criminal charges.
Sporting a massive beard and shoulder-length grey hair, Quaid was silent during the hearing as his wife, Evi, sat in the audience. They both left the downtown Montreal office, politely declining comment.
Quaid said in interview with The Associated Press from a detention center in Laval, Quebec on Wednesday that he would like to resolve his legal issues in California and “move on with my life.”