Supporters of Robin Long say he learned Friday at a hastily called deportation hearing that the Canada Border Services Agency plans to send him back to the U.S. as early as next Monday.

"This is quite a bombshell in what we thought was a pretty routine administration hearing," said Bob Ages of the Vancouver War Resisters Support Campaign.

Long had been arrested for allegedly failing to report in by telephone, Ages said.

"Rather than just getting a finger waving or upping his bond, they say, 'There's no point in releasing him because we're deporting him tomorrow."'

Long's lawyer will be looking for a stay of deportation and plans to file an appeal, Ages said.

Long, who was arrested in Nelson, B.C., last October on a Canada-wide warrant, said he enlisted in the army because he came from a lower-class family and didn't have access to adequate health care and education.

He said he sought refuge in Canada because the army wanted him to participate in what he calls "an illegal war of aggression in Iraq."

He's one of several U.S. army deserters who have claimed refugee status in Canada.

None of the claims have been successful but the Federal Court has ordered the Immigration and Refugee Board to take another look at the claim of another U.S. army refugee claimant.

Joshua Key of Oklahama fled to Canada in 2003 while on leave after serving in Iraq for eight months as a combat engineer.

Last week the court concluded that a soldier who refuses to take part in military action which "systematically degrades, abuses or humiliates" either combatants or non-combatants might qualify as a refugee. It was the first ruling in favour of the roughly 200 American soldiers who have fled to Canada.