CAT/C/38/D/298/2006 page 11 State party clearly indicated that the complainants, by submitting an application for leave and for judicial review, would also have had the option of applying for a suspension of their deportation if they were still in Canada at the time of the decision on humanitarian grounds. The State party points out that these remedies, while distinct, are not mutually exclusive. 6.2 The State party reports that on 22 December 2006 the application for permanent resident status on humanitarian grounds was rejected on the grounds that the complainants had not demonstrated that they would be personally targeted by the law enforcement authorities, the mayor of San Andrés Cholula or the Gulf Cartel drug traffickers upon their return to Mexico. The State party points out that the complainants could submit an application to the Federal Court of Canada for leave and for judicial review of this decision. They could also request the Federal Court to suspend their deportation pending the outcome of the judicial review. 6.3 The State party reiterates its earlier arguments and maintains that the communication is inadmissible on the grounds that domestic remedies have not been exhausted and that the complainants have not established a prima facie case for the purpose of admissibility. Additional information and comments submitted by the complainants 7.1 On 24 January 2007, the complainants informed the Committee that their application for permanent resident status on humanitarian grounds had been rejected on 22 December 2006 and that they had submitted an application for judicial review with the Federal Court. On 28 February 2007, they informed the Committee that their application for suspension of their deportation had been rejected by the Federal Court on 26 February 2007. 7.2 On 7 March 2007, the complainants submitted their comments on the State party’s observations. They reiterate their arguments on the exhaustion of domestic remedies. They note that the application on humanitarian grounds had been rejected, as had the application for suspension. They reiterate that they have exhausted all available remedies. In the light of their situation, they have been forced to remain in Canada illegally. 7.3 As to the allegation that their complaint is not even minimally founded, they reject the State party’s claim that the letter from the family friend does not come from an independent source. The State party is wrong to require that the letter be part of an ongoing correspondence. The conclusion of the PRRA in this regard serves to demonstrate yet again why this remedy is ineffective and inadequate, as well as the fact that the PRRA officer looked for any possible grounds for rejecting their application. The only response the PRRA officer could make to the claim that the complainants’ rights would not be protected in Mexico was to say that there had been statements made by the Mexican Government indicating its intention to change the situation. The complainants further reiterate their observations regarding the existence of several pieces of evidence to support their allegations. 7.4 They refer also to a document on torture in Mexico issued in 2005 by the Miguel Agustín Pro Juárez Human Rights Centre, a non-governmental organization, in which that organization notes that, as the Mexican Government acknowledged in its report to the Committee against Torture, no one had been convicted of the crime of torture in Mexico between 1997 and 2003.