TORONTO - A Toronto woman ordered deported to Chile for being a member of a gang did nothing more than bake cupcakes and buy a teddy bear for a new mother, she says.

Carla Campana, 24, has been in detention since Oct. 8, 2009, after the Toronto home she lived in with her family was raided by police.

On July 7 this year an adjudicator at the Immigration and Refugee Board found Campana to be a member of a criminal organization. A deportation order was subsequently issued.

The gang in question is the Almighty Latin Kings and Queens Nation, also known as the Latin Kings, a group reported to have originated in the U.S. with chapters in several countries, including Canada.

Court documents in Campana's case state Toronto police believe the local chapter has been involved in firearms crimes, drugs and aggravated assault.

In a 2009 report, the U.S.-based National Gang Intelligence Centre said the Latin Kings derive their income from the sale of drugs such as crack cocaine and heroin.

But on the phone from the Vanier Centre for Women in Milton, Ont., Campana said all she ever sold were cupcakes to raise money for a baby shower when one of the female members got pregnant.

She gave a teddy bear to a woman in the group who'd just had a baby out of wedlock and helped buy items such as a baby bath, diapers and bottles for the woman's baby shower before the child was born.

She said she had no knowledge of any illegal activities taking place while she was an entry-level member.

"They told me it was a group to help Latin women rise up," said Campana, who wants to be a social worker.

She has no criminal record and was never charged with any crime.

Campana came to Canada from Valparaiso, Chile, with her family when she was five months old. Neither she nor her parents ever applied for Canadian citizenship and they've been living here as permanent residents.

Campana has only visited Chile once, when she was four years old. She said she didn't apply for Canadian citizenship because she "didn't think it was necessary."

Section 37 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act states a permanent resident is inadmissible to Canada if they belong to a group that engages in organized criminal activity, such as gangs.

Toronto lawyer Jeffry House said his client had no knowledge of any criminal activity by the highly hierarchical group.

Furthermore, House said Campana walked out on the group as soon as she was promoted to a "probationary" membership level and was told her role as a woman was to "sexually service" the men in the group.

"To me it's fundamentally offensive that you can do nothing wrong and be deported on the basis of an innocent association with someone else, or some group, which might be bad, but not known to you to be bad," House said.

House has filed an application in Federal Court to have the decision reviewed on the basis that it does not respect Campana's Charter freedoms, specifically the freedom of association.

"If you join a group and you're doing lawful things like Carla was and somewhere in the group there are people committing crimes, it denies you your freedom of association if you don't know what those people are doing," House said.

The lawyer is also asking the immigration minister to review the decision because the minister has discretion over whether or not a person gets deported. If the minister finds Campana is not a threat to the country, then she can stay.

Campana's older brother was also involved in the Latin Kings and was deported to Chile as a result, House said.

Campana said her brother did not tell her about any illegal activities in the gang.

The woman's mother, Elizabeth, said she doesn't understand why her daughter is facing deportation and being detained with criminals.

"I taught my daughter to love this country," Elizabeth Campana said, crying on the phone from her home in Toronto.

"She feels like she's a Torontonian. And now this country is (pushing her out)."

Before being placed in detention, the younger Campana was the primary caregiver for her mother, who was diagnosed with cancer in 2008.

Her mother said she only found out about her daughter's membership in the gang after her daughter had already left it.

University of Toronto criminology professor Sandra Bucerius studies gangs and presented evidence at the Immigration and Refugee Board hearing.

In an email message, Bucerius said the Latin Kings claim to "empower" people in the Latino community and market themselves as a legitimate organization to outsiders -- including those interested in joining.

Bucerius said it would be more likely that a full member, referred to as a "Queen", or a male member, would know about aspects of the group.

She said there is a strong separation between genders in the gang.