The administration of US President Joe Biden secretly resumed the deportation of Russian citizens, writes The Guardian.
The Immigration and Customs Enforcement Service (ICE) said that it continues to carry out activities to deport migrants to other countries, including Russia.
“ICE conducts deportations to countries, including Russia, in accordance with the country’s expulsion guidelines,” ICE said in a statement.
The United States stopped deporting Russians in March last year, after the outbreak of war with Ukraine. In the fall, after the announcement of the mobilization, the White House said that Russian citizens who would seek asylum could apply to the United States. However, last week it became known about several episodes of deportation. Last weekend, a young Russian was expelled from the country, who had fled from the mobilization.
When exactly the procedure was decided to be resumed is unknown. The change in policy towards Russians fleeing the mobilization took migrants and their lawyers by surprise. An immigration lawyer from Texas, Jennifer Scarborough, said that she represents the interests of four Russians who fled from the mobilization, who moved to the States through the border with Mexico.
One of Scarborough’s Russian clients has already been deported. She is sure that he was sent to Russia. The other two did not pass the so-called “fear interview” – the immigration officers did not consider that they were in danger, and they did not consider conscription for military service a good reason for granting asylum. Now Russians can be deported at any time.
Another Scarborough client managed to sign up for a second interview, after which the immigration service allowed him to stay in the country. “In March 2022, the US announced that they were stopping deportations to Russia due to the political situation – so I don’t understand why they resumed it and did it secretly,” Scarborough laments.
Against the background of mobilization, the number of Russians who illegally arrived in the United States through the border with Mexico increased by 2.5 times. So, from October to December 2021, there were 5 thousand such people, and for the same period in 2022 – 12.5 thousand, wrote The Wall Street Journal.
The administration of US President Joe Biden secretly resumed the deportation of Russian citizens, writes The Guardian. The Immigration and Customs Enforcement Service (ICE) said that it continues to carry out activities to deport migrants to other countries, including Russia.
“ICE conducts deportations to countries, including Russia, in accordance with the country’s expulsion guidelines,” ICE said in a statement.
The United States stopped deporting Russians in March last year, after the outbreak of war with Ukraine. In the fall, after the announcement of the mobilization, the White House said that Russian citizens who would seek asylum could apply to the United States. However, last week it became known about several episodes of deportation. Last weekend, a young Russian was expelled from the country, who had fled from the mobilization.
When exactly the procedure was decided to be resumed is unknown. The change in policy towards Russians fleeing the mobilization took migrants and their lawyers by surprise. An immigration lawyer from Texas, Jennifer Scarborough, said that she represents the interests of four Russians who fled from the mobilization, who moved to the States through the border with Mexico.
One of Scarborough’s Russian clients has already been deported. She is sure that he was sent to Russia. The other two did not pass the so-called “fear interview” – the immigration officers did not consider that they were in danger, and they did not consider conscription for military service a good reason for granting asylum. Now Russians can be deported at any time.
Another Scarborough client managed to sign up for a second interview, after which the immigration service allowed him to stay in the country. “In March 2022, the US announced that they were stopping deportations to Russia due to the political situation – so I don’t understand why they resumed it and did it secretly,” Scarborough laments.
Against the background of mobilization, the number of Russians who illegally arrived in the United States through the border with Mexico increased by 2.5 times. So, from October to December 2021, there were 5 thousand such people, and for the same period in 2022 – 12.5 thousand, wrote The Wall Street Journal.
Source : Moscow Times
