Denver Post, CO
Nov 14 2004
Rally fights family’s pending expulsion
Armenians who settled in Ridgway in 1999 face deportation for invalid
visas
By Allison Sherry
Denver Post Staff Writer
Post / Lyn Alweis
Alyssa Hill, 15, and others attend a Saturday rally outside the U.S.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement center in Aurora to protest plans
to deport an Armenian family. “They are better U.S. citizens than
most U.S. citizens,” said Patrick Edwards, a 19-year-old CU student.
On a bitterly cold river bank in Aurora on Saturday, an eclectic
group of college professors, middle schoolers, parents and Ridgway
townsfolk, poured out of school buses and cars in hopes of keeping a
beloved Armenian family in Colorado.
They carried signs quoting Abraham Lincoln and Dick Cheney. They sang
the national anthem and made speeches. And they cried bitterly for a
family whose imminent fate is deportation back to Armenia.
“If I could trade him my citizenship, I would in a heartbeat,” said
Patrick Edwards, a 19-year-old University of Colorado sophomore and a
friend of Armenian Gevorg Sargsyan. “They are better U.S. citizens
than most U.S. citizens.”
The Sargsyan family settled in the western Colorado town of Ridgway
in 1999, putting their kids into public school and picking up jobs
after leaving Armenia.
But because they have no valid visa, and they’ve nearly exhausted
efforts to stay in the United States, four family members have been
incarcerated in Aurora by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
officials.
They are set to be deported to Armenia, where they say they’ll face
persecution and perhaps death from the Russian Mafia in a matter of
weeks.
On Saturday, roughly 60 people protested at an immigration processing
facility where Gevorg, Hayk, Meri and Ruben Sargsyan are being held.
The group hoped that a public and very emotional plea will help the
Sargsyans stay in the United States.
“We have come here today to tell them that they (immigration
officials) are not acting in the best interest of the United States,”
said Colin Lacy, a childhood friend of Gevorg Sargsyan. “Locking away
a sophomore at the University of Colorado who finished his freshman
year on the dean’s list is not in the best interest of the United
States.”
Susan Wing, a Ridgway resident who traveled to Aurora with her
husband, agreed.
“They’ve got kids in jail here, and they should be in school,” she
said.
In many ways, family and friends argued on Saturday, the Sargsyans
are a true American success story, with one stroke of horrific luck.
They came to the United States afraid for their lives. The oldest
daughter, Nvart, had married an American named Vaughn Huckfeldt in
Armenia who claimed to be a minister with a home in Colorado.
The Sargsyans say that Huckfeldt conned a number of Armenians into
giving him thousands of dollars when he promised visas for them to
the United States.
When those promises didn’t come true, many Armenians personally
blamed the Sargsyan family because Nvart had married Huckfeldt.
Eventually, Huckfeldt got visas for the Sargsyans, but they were the
wrong type, requiring the family to attend school instead of work.
Post / Lyn Alweis
Nvart Idinyan cries at the protest held for her family. She is
married to an American and trying to get a green card.
When Nvart filed for divorce in Colorado, the Sargsyans say Huckfeldt
reported them for being in the country with the wrong kind of visa.
Thus ensued a six-year battle with immigration officials to stay in
the United States.
Huckfeldt reportedly is out of the country. Attempts to reach him
have been unsuccessful.
Once the family settled in Ridgway, they picked up odd jobs,
cleaning, waiting tables and working on ranches.
Nvart remarried and works at a bank. Her sister Meri is a pianist at
an interdenominational church. The two boys, Gevorg and Hayk, went
through Ridgway High School. Gevorg attended CU. Hayk is a senior at
Ridgway High School and a soccer player.
Ruben, the family’s patriarch, and children Gevorg, Hayk and Meri
were the first family members to be detained.
The mother, Susan Sargsyan, hasn’t exhausted all legal options, and
Nvart is trying to get a green card because she is married to an
American.
Nvart said she has spoken to her two brothers, her sister and her
father on the phone in the detention facility. They’re utterly
despondent and “are losing hope,” she said. “They are doing
horrible.”
Meri is seeing a psychologist in the facility because she is so
upset, Nvart said.
“We hope that helps,” she said, gesturing to the crowd of people. “We
are hoping for a change.”
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