Boulder Daily Camera, CO
Nov 25 2004

Family sought freedom, now detained

CU student awaiting deportation thankful for support from community

By Elizabeth Mattern Clark, Camera Staff Writer
November 25, 2004

AURORA – Today is no different from the last 20.

It’s been three weeks since University of Colorado sophomore Gevorg
Sargsyan, his brother, sister and father were detained in a federal
holding center.

The family is awaiting deportation after an immigration judge ruled
they entered the United States fraudulently in 1999 using student
visas. An appeals board agreed.

The family planned to treat Thanksgiving Day as a reunion, when Gevorg
Sargsyan would have a few days free from classes to drive home to
Ridgway. Instead, the 20-year-old who was studying to be a doctor,
has withdrawn from CU – and those memories of classes and exams seem
like a “fantasy,” he said.

“I’ve already received a bill for the spring semester, so things
better work out,” he said.

Wearing a navy-blue uniform, Sargsyan said he spends his days and
nights crying. Sleeping. Reading. Watching television over the chatter
of the dozens of other illegal immigrants in his cement cell.

Two of his professors and a former high school teacher brought him
“problems” to work on – one of them using the dominoes and chess
board he has in the cell.

“Keep that brain working,” his teacher told him.

Sargsyan is finished with all of his “homework” now. He tries not to
let his mind wander to his native country.

The Sargsyans say they were forced to flee Armenia because of
the Russian mafia. They say they fear the mobsters will kill them
upon their return because of alleged crimes there by an American,
a former in-law.

The irony of spending Thanksgiving locked up in the country where they
sought freedom is not lost on them. But they say they’re thankful
for the outpouring of support from their Western Slope community –
a rally, a fund-raising effort to pay legal fees, a lawyer who is
still fighting for them.

Corina Almeida, chief counsel for U.S. Immigration and Customs
Enforcement, said the deportation orders against the family are final
unless a court grants a stay. The fear of persecution by the mafia
does not qualify them for asylum, Almeida said.

“We’re simply enforcing the law, like we do with every alien,
regardless of how much community support they have,” she said. “They
had their day in court.”