Ofelia Boudaguian says she hoped for fair treatment when she and her family came to the United States in 1995
Published:
4 December 2004 y., Saturday
Ofelia Boudaguian says she hoped for fair treatment when she and her family came to the United States in 1995, after years of suffering discrimination and violence in Latvia.
After nearly a decade in the St. Louis area, though, Boudaguian says she feels let down by the American legal system, which has denied the family political asylum and now threatens them with deportation at any moment.
"We live now day by day. It's so scary," she said. A knock on the door might mean that she and her husband, Vitalik Boudaguian, and their two children must gather their belongings, submit to arrest and go to a detention facility to await deportation.
Their one-year tourist visas expired May 18, 1996. The family's efforts to gain asylum have drawn support from a dedicated group of friends, who met Ofelia Boudaguian through her job as a cosmetologist at the Personalities Hair and Nails Salon in Manchester.
After the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals here ruled July 22 to deny the family's request for asylum, the friends launched a full-bore campaign to block their deportation. They have met with Laura Bush, peppered acquaintances of Attorney General John Ashcroft with letters and phone calls, visited the office of President George W. Bush's uncle in Clayton, corresponded with the offices of U.S. Sens. Christopher "Kit" Bond and Jim Talent, and collected 2,000 signatures on the family's behalf.
Šaltinis:
stltoday.com
Copying, publishing, announcing any information from the News.lt portal without written permission of News.lt editorial office is prohibited.
The most popular articles
It's 50 years since Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama fled here from Tibet in 1959 after a failed uprising against Chinese rule.
more »
Women across the EU earn on average 17.4% less than men, according to new EU statistics, released as part of a commission campaign to narrow the pay gap between the sexes.
more »
It's 1941 and the height of WWII. Amid all the suffering, a couple of Italians imprisoned for anti-fascism sketched out a vision of how post-war Europe could look on cigarette papers.
more »
Kenya's president Mwai Kibaki denies press accusations that he has a second wife.
more »
In the last 30 years the European Union has striven to seek gender equality in all aspects of its work.
more »
Proposals to boost shopper's confidence on the high street and the internet will be opened to public debate by MEPs Monday afternoon.
more »
How the EU promotes creativity and innovation – 20 projects showcased in Brussels
more »
A desperate battle to save the lives of hundreds of pilot whales beached on an island off Tasmania.
more »
Four year old Krishna Goraik‘s family refuse to arrange his funeral because child‘s mother believes by offering prayers he will come back to life after seven days.
more »
Leading MEPs have joined Nicole Kidman and the UN in the “Say NO to violence against women” campaign.
more »