US President Joe Biden’s administration has “quietly” resumed deportations to their homeland of Russians who have been denied asylum. About it on Saturday, March 18, writing The Guardian.
Texas lawyer Jennifer Scarborough, who represents several Russians facing deportation, told the Guardian that one of her clients was deported from the United States a few days ago. He left Russia after the announcement of the mobilization, after which he arrived in the United States across the border with Mexico, where he tried to obtain asylum. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Scarborough has said the threat of conscription is not sufficient grounds to grant asylum.
According to the lawyer, her clients “remain in legal limbo”. “They have virtually no option to seek asylum,” Scarborough explained.
She noted that deportation orders had been issued against three other of her clients from Russia. At the same time, two of them have not had time to appeal the migration judge’s decision in a timely manner and are now also facing deportation, Scarborough said. The lawyer specified that one of her clients remains imprisoned in Louisiana, while another was released after a hunger strike.
Scarborough expressed bewilderment at the correlation between the resumption of deportations and the official position of US authorities regarding the mobilization in Russia and the fighting in Ukraine.
“In March 2022, the United States announced that they were stopping deportations to Russia due to the political situation, so I don’t understand why they resumed and did it so quietly,” the lawyer said. .
After the announcement of the mobilization in Russia in September 2022, the White House declared that Russians seeking asylum will be able to apply in the United States.
As Scarborough explained, in order to obtain asylum, it is necessary to confirm in court your fears about the threat to life when returning to Russia. “The flight plan may in fact be a legitimate asylum claim,” she added.
The US Immigration and Customs Enforcement Service told the publication that the agency continues to conduct deportations to various countries, including Russia, in accordance with interstate agreements. The White House did not respond to a request for comment.
UNITED STATES suspended deportation to Russia in March 2022, shortly after the start of the military operation in Ukraine. The reason for this decision was given as a “humanitarian crisis”. At the same time, Washington announced the suspension of deportations to Ukraine, Belarus, Georgia, Hungary, Moldova, Poland, Romania and Slovakia.
According to the US State Department, from January to September 2022, Russian citizens obtained 25.6 thousand US tourist visas.
