The Right First Step in Obtaining Asylum in the USA Is Important! What to Do When Your Relative Is at Risk of Deportation?
AMERICAN RUSSIAN RELIEF CENTER
U.B.I. 602 057 516
The correct first step in obtaining asylum in the USA is important!
What to do when your relative is under threat of deportation?
It seems these are two different topics. First, having arrived in the USA and not wishing to expose himself to danger in his homeland, he seeks ways to obtain legal status in the new place.
Second, having obtained refugee status (usually thanks to the efforts of parents), he goes off the deep end here, which leads to a conflict with the law quite seriously. Ignoring the admonitions of parents, the church, then the police, having exhausted the credit of trust in court — he ultimately ends up in a deportation prison. This tragedy becomes not only his personal one, but that of the entire family.
What to do, what is the connection here, why are these questions placed side by side?
So, let’s start with the first problem. The first correct step is important!
A person seeking asylum in the USA should know.
- The USA grants asylum on the grounds of persecution:
A) On national and racial grounds.
B) Political persecution
C) Persecution for religious beliefs
Let’s dwell on the last point, since as a rule this is the most pressing issue and the main reason for obtaining status, and also this category of persons are the main candidates for deportation among the Slavic diaspora in the USA.
Those seeking asylum in the USA for religious reasons should know:
The USA provides asylum to traditionally persecuted evangelical denominations: These are Pentecostals, Baptists, Sabbatarians.
Because these denominations were prohibited from registration outside the structure of the controlled All-Union Council of Evangelical Christians-Baptists. And in view of this they were subjected to persecution.
It is very important to know and not confuse persecution with discrimination.
Asylum can be obtained only because of persecution but not discrimination.
So, what is persecution, and what is discrimination?
Persecution is subdivided into three types:
-
Judicial: (Criminal prosecution for religious activity, fabrication of criminal cases)
Punishment: Prison term, as well as other forms of judicial persecution — deportation, corrective labor, deduction of interest from wages, any property confiscation, deprivation of parental rights. -
Administrative: (Fines, administrative eviction, any restrictions)
-
Extrajudicial: Persecution at the everyday level. (This is as a rule the most common phenomenon in the former USSR)
This type of persecution occurs because of anti-Protestant propaganda in the media, or after calls for hatred by clergy of denominations officially supported by the state.
This is when you are hit on the head, or your property (church) is destroyed and you know what for, but by whom, it is impossible to prove, but these events usually occur after ideological indoctrination of “patriotically” minded neighbors.
And it is not necessary that you yourself are hit on the head. Yesterday Brother Ivan was hit on the head, and tomorrow you may find yourself in his place — only someone might miscalculate and inadvertently, as it were, leave you disabled, or even, God forbid, kill you.
Discrimination: (They called you names, fired you from work, didn’t let you study, lowered your grades at school)
Remember: Asylum can be obtained having at least one of the three above-listed types of persecution, and discrimination only as an addition.
It is important to know: It is not necessary to have direct persecution, but one must have a well-founded fear of persecution in the homeland. That is, you need to prove that in your place of residence (Russia, Ukraine, etc.) there are facts of persecution.
This is where the two seemingly different topics — deportation and asylum application — come together. But the whole point is that both need to prove to the immigration authorities about religious persecution in their homeland. That one cannot be deported because he came in a refugee family and in his former homeland these persecutions are present and he is a potential target of persecution.
The second needs to convince the same service that he cannot return because of existing persecution. In extreme cases, the entire argument and evidence base can be shifted to the reason of the presence of torture in your homeland. (For example: In Ukraine, according to official statistics, up to 150 people are killed during interrogations per year) For this, a reference is made to the UN Convention against Torture.
But words are words. Facts are needed, official material of proven persecution is needed. In order to somehow link this to your case — you need media publications, expert opinions, information from recognized human rights organizations.
The Christian human rights organization ARRC has expert status on the issue of the religious situation in the former USSR and possesses extensive information on all republics about the state of religious freedom and persecution for each denomination. ARRC conducts regular monitoring of the state of religious freedoms in the former USSR and compiles a review for interested organizations and individuals. (Including for the US Congress and the US Department of State)
We advise! Those intending to file an asylum application in the USA and those who have filed but have a weak evidence base, as well as those who are under threat of deportation – Contact us by phone
(206) 218-4455 Alex Shans
(360)354-5356 E-mail [email protected]
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