KVBC.com
January 27th, 2005
Two local sisters are one step closer to being tossed out of the country.
Today, another loss in federal court for the Armenian-born teenagers
fighting to stay with their family in Las Vegas. 18-year-old Emma and
17-year-old Mariam Sarkisian have been in INS custody in Los Angeles for
almost two weeks. Today, News 3’s Denise Rosch spoke with a relative who
talked to the girls last night.
A judge says he has no choice but to keep them locked up. The judge says he
has no authority to release the sisters. This is a mandatory detention
because there’s already an order for deportation. Even so, the family asked
for emergency bail today. it, too, was denied.
“Every day they tell them, don’t even hope for anything, you will be
deported.” Rouben Sarkisian says his daughters are being terrorized in INS
custody. Someone, he says, is repeatedly telling the girls their case is a
lost cause. “This morning she was hysterical. How can somebody do that to
the kids?”
Thursday morning, Sarkisian and his three other, American-born daughters
went to federal court asking a judge to release his girls on bail. It didn’t
happen. Troy Baker is the Sarkisian attorney. “We’re still very hopeful we
can get one of our senators or congressmen to sign a private bill to let
these girls stay here.”
The Sarkisian sisters have lived in this country most of their lives and
fully believed they were here legally. In fact, it wasn’t until Emma wanted
to apply for a driver’s license that they learned the ugly truth. “These
girls were actually deported a dozen years ago, and for whatever reason, the
government never acted on it. It was only when they came forward to get
their citizenship in order the government suddenly acted upon it.”
Little sister Michelle says her phone calls from Emma and Mariam are
difficult. “We were just talking about how they were doing. I didn’t really
ask her any questions. I didn’t want to cry.” But the family is still
confused why the country they love is making it so difficult for two teenage
girls. “We never planned to break the law, so nothing bad would’ve happened
if the kids just stayed here.”
The family also wanted me to express their thanks to Senator Harry Reid.
He’s asked the Secretary of Homeland Security, Tom Ridge, to look at the
case and help the girls. Meanwhile, another hearing on the girls status will
take place next month. Support for this family is coming from all over. One
of their neighbors says they are wonderful people who this shouldn’t be
happening to.
The Sarkisian sisters were born in Armenia, but only lived there a short
time. They have no family and no friends there.