Friday, May 27, 2005
facing deportation to Kazakhstan may stay.
By Sheila Hagar of the Union-Bulletin
Asylum is granted
A judge ruled Thursday that a Walla Walla familyfacing deportation to Kazakhstan may stay.
By Sheila Hagar of the Union-Bulletin
SEATTLE -- Standing in front of a bank of elevators on the 16th floor of a Seattle office building, a group of Walla Walla residents linked hands and bowed their heads.
"Dear God,'" prayed 5-year-old Lydia Tupper, "Thank you for letting Katya and Vladimir stay." With a firm "Amen," the girl beamed up at the faces hovering above her, oblivious to streaming tears and shaky breaths. Lydia, a cousin of Vladimir and Katya German, was one of almost two dozen people praising a ruling that had come down 30 minutes earlier.
On Thursday in a Seattle courtroom, Immigration Judge Kenneth Josephson granted the German family asylum in the United States. Within minutes, an attorney for the Department of Homeland Security waived the department's right to appeal . The Walla Walla family's attorney summed up a long journey that has had numerous and discouraging twists and - until Thursday - an undetermined last destination.
"It's really over," Signe Dortch announced to the crowd of excited folks spilling out of a conference room at the Seattle law firm of Gibbs, Houston and Pauw.
What began as a quest for asylum almost 13 years ago had boiled down to the final hours by the time the German family, its legal representatives and a band of supporters met at Dortch's office at noon to prepare for the 1 p.m. hearing.As she explained courtroom procedures and rules, the attorney warned there would be testimony that could be upsetting to hear.
As she spoke to the crowd, Vladimir and his wife, Katya, sat without moving, their eyes focused on unseen horizons. Today the couple would hear the judge's decision - must they return to Kazakhstan or would they be allowed to stay. Their son Pavel, 20, and daughter, Oksana, 17, stood behind them, mute: Whatever the judge decided for their parents would likely become their future as well. Shortly afterward, Dortch ushered the group into the courtroom. Nervous chatter quickly died down; the Germans huddled in quiet conversation with their attorney.
A thin man with a wide smile, Judge Josephson seated himself without fanfare, welcoming the group. He told the audience he had never seen so many people present at a case from outside the Seattle area. In the next hour, attorneys from both sides led Vladimir and Katya through details of life in Kazakhstan, once part of the Soviet Union. As Russians of German ethnicity, life was often filled with terror in a land the Kazakh people were determined to reclaim after Soviet rule.
With quiet intensity, the couple described unprovoked police interrogations lasting for hours. They detailed burned property, interrupted church services and police intervention of family gatherings during religious holidays. Vladimir spoke of being called names by strangers, coworkers and government officials. He recounted a death threat issued by a neighbor during a family birthday party.
Looking straight ahead, the Walla Walla man told of multiple beatings by mobs of native Kazakhs that left him unconscious and sometime hospitalized. He slowly took attorneys and the judge through the story of a coworker who - after an argument with Vladimir about who should be allowed to live in Kazakhstan - shoved red-hot rebar through Vladimir's upper arm, piercing his chest. Vladimir fell to the steel floor of the foundry and lost consciousness.
The country's situation remains much the same, Vladimir and Katya said. Katya's brother, Alexander, recently died under what she believes to be suspicious circumstances, she testified. When relatives arrived from Germany to make arrangements, they were not allowed to follow the Kazakh custom of videotaping or photographing the body. "There were marks on his face," and government officials threatened punishment if any electronic record was made, Katya said. Not even a death certificate could be obtained, she added.
Josephson listened to it all, including a report submitted by Homeland Security attorney Eric Bakken saying Kazakhstan now enjoys a higher degree of tolerance toward non-Kazakhs. The judge complimented the exhaustive work of Dortch and her clients and praised Bakken for his thoroughness.
Josephson then quoted extensively from case after case of Ninth Circuit Court findings, pointing out that asylum seekers are required to demonstrate only a 1-in-10 probability of future persecution if they can prove past persecution.
He noted, as well, that an asylum adjudicator had previously found the Germans to be credible and to have responded consistently in every preliminary hearing. Josephson said he found expert medical testimony to line up with the scars Vladimir bears, permanent souvenirs of beatings and assaults.
As the final voice in this decision, he must look at all documentation, not only oral accounts, the judge advised the courtroom. He had to remember that "claims of past persecution can be defeated by a changed country situation," he said.
With those closing remarks, Josephson looked at both attorneys, asking if they were prepared to receive his decision. Both nodded. In a few formal phrases, Josephson at last said the words those in the courtroom were holding a collective breath for: "Asylum is granted."
Attempting to retain a modicum of courtroom formality, Vladimir and Katya barely dared to look at each other. Dortch dropped her head into her hands, as if her sudden and wide grin was too heavy to hold up. Behind the railing, understanding washed over onlookers, including Oksana and Pavel. A loud victory whoop was heard from Vladimir's boss, Randy Alexander, while others bowed their heads in thanksgiving.
Within seconds, people were on their feet. With reddened eyes, Kathy Hiatt McConnell of Walla Walla folded Vladimir into an embrace. "Welcome," she told him. Her words were echoed by Dortch when the group had reassembled in the law office.
"I still can't believe it, "Vladimir replied. "It's been for so long, and it just happened in an hour." Turning to Dortch, he had one more question. "What happened today...it's 100 percent?"
Putting hands to her face to catch her tears, the attorney answered. "It's really over."
BACKGROUND
A Feb. 20 U-B story highlighted the family members' struggle to remain in the land they had built a life in. Although they had taken every required step, their request for legal asylum had endured almost every mishap possible.
After losing valuable time due to a fraudulent immigration ``specialist,' the family's application had been ignored for a decade. In the meantime, Vladimir and Katya had paid for annual work permits, found employment and bought a house in Walla Walla. Their children have gone through the local schools, and son Pavel graduated from Walla Walla High School.
Deportation to their land of origin would almost assuredly mean persecution and a reduced quality of life, the family feared and expert affidavits supported. Pavel would immediately be forced into the military, where he would face probable hazing, including sexual molestation. And possibly death, his parents feared.
© 2005 Walla Walla Union-Bulletin