Posted on 03/22/2005 9:46:06 PM PST by Ernest_at_the_Beach
A spokesman for Rep. Jon Porter, R-Nev., said this morning the congressman's office was trying to help a Las Vegas family of figure skaters slated to be deported Thursday to their native Russia.
Professional figure skaters Anna Petrachenkova and Vladimir Khatin, and their son, 11-year-old Timofey, sought political asylum in the United States, saying they had been threatened and extorted by corrupt local officials and police in their Russian hometown. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals denied their claim and the family was notified in February by the Homeland Security Department to be ready for deportation at 8:30 a.m. Thursday.
Petrachenkova said she visited Porter's Las Vegas office Monday and a representative said he would look into whether there could be an extension on the family's date of deportation.
"We still have hope in our hearts that we will stay," Petrachenkova said. "If we leave it will be very dangerous for us."
Adam Mayberry, spokesman for Porter, said "it's very difficult" to stop the deportation process but that the congressman's staff was investigating what assistance might be available.
Complicating matters is the fact that Congress is in recess for the next two weeks. While it is not unusual for an elected representative to submit a private bill on behalf of an individual seeking asylum, such action can only be taken when Congress is in session and a floor vote can be held.
Friends and supporters of the family spent the weekend collecting about 2,000 signatures for a petition. Mike Tryba, whose 8-year-old daughter is one of Petrachenkova's students, said he hopes the petition will motivate one of the state's federal representatives to intervene.
"They're a stand-up family," Tryba said. "They work. They have a kid in school. It doesn't make any sense to me why we would to get rid of them. Frankly, it's un-American. I understand that millions of people want to live here but millions of people don't have Anna and Vladimir's level of expertise."
Petrachenkova and Khatin have been working in the Las Vegas area since 2001 and currently coach students at the Las Vegas Ice Center on Flamingo Road off Interstate 215. Timofey is also a skater working his way up the junior amateur ranks and is enrolled at Odyssey Charter School.
Sounding thoroughly Americanized, Timofey said he is "majorly freaking out" at the thought of having to return to Russia, a country he hasn't seen since he was 5 years old.
"I don't want to go back, our lives are here," Timofey said.
At the family's modest home near the intersection of Rainbow Boulevard and Charleston Boulevard on Monday, there was nary a suitcase or packing box in sight.
"That is the last thing to think about, I'm so nervous and scared right now," Petrachenkova said.
In the notice of deportation, the family was told it would be allowed a maximum of 44 pounds of luggage for each person. Petrachenkova said she has no idea if the weight limit applies to Churka, the family's 55-pound dog.
The Chinese Shar-Pei "is like a member of our family," Petrachenkova said. "We're not leaving without her."
They may not have a choice, however.
Jeremiah Wolf Stuchiner, a Las Vegas attorney representing the family in its appeal of the deportation order, said all legal avenues have been exhausted. Neither immigration officials nor the courts believed the family's descriptions of being shaken down by local police and gangsters in Russia qualified them for political asylum, Stuchiner said.
Petrachenkova said she has yet to hear from U.S. Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., whose office she contacted last week.
A spokeswoman for Reid confirmed that a letter from Petrachenkova had been received but said the senator's office typically does not discuss pending requests for assistance. Reid receives as many as 50 inquiries each month from individuals asking for help with immigration-related matters, the spokeswoman said.
Reid successfully intervened in January on behalf of two Las Vegas sisters facing deportation to Armenia despite the protests of their father, a legal U.S. resident.
Jamie Montalvo, whose daughter skates at Las Vegas Ice Center, said she is soliciting letters of support for the family and hopes that Reid will step in and help.
"He's a great advocate who works hard for Las Vegas," Montalvo said. "With 5,000 people moving here a month I certainly think there's room in town for these three fine people."
The Russian family first sought political asylum in December 2000, citing threats threats made against them by the local police in their small village outside of Moscow. The family was in Long Island at the time, having recently completed a tour with "Moscow Stars on Ice." For more than four years their case has made its way first through the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Services Department and later into the courts.
Petrachenkova said even with the family in the United States the threats have continued with police regularly harassing her mother for information. She said the local Russian police, which she described as being made up of gangsters, incorrectly believed she and her husband became rich touring with ice shows. The police demanded bribes in exchange for their son's safety, Petrachenkova said.
"In Russia $400 a week is a lot of money but here is it just a living," Petrachenkova said.
fyi
Is there any way some of us FReepers can help?
I don't know.
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