«Now They Are Classic Political Prisoners»

- What do you know about the latest mass deportation of Russians from the USA?

- It was a charter flight, and according to those who were on the plane, there were about 60-65 people. That’s what they could estimate by eye, simply being on the plane — there were no other passengers on board besides the deported Russians.

Such flights have been happening roughly once a month since early January. There were small groups of about 10 people, and some with 40-60 people. For example, in early June, there was a charter for 40 people. And between group flights, there were also individual deportations — like Leonid Melekhin’s case.

About the last flight that arrived in Domodedovo, it is known that all passengers underwent a joint interrogation. It was fairly standard: why did you travel to America, why were you returned, where were you there. Then some were taken for additional questioning. Not everyone left the airport — some were arrested, this is also confirmed information.

I spoke with several Russian human rights defenders, and they all recommend that I do not provide any specific details that could identify these people. They are all under surveillance by the security services, whether free or already detained. But even if they are free now, it doesn’t mean they will remain free in a week. So I won’t share any specific information to avoid harming anyone.

- Can you provide general information? Were they men or women? How long did they spend in immigration detention centers and for what reasons?

- There were both men and women. I cannot confirm that all the people on that plane were in detention with political cases. But about 10% of the passengers were definitely asylum seekers. Who the others were, I just don’t know. Maybe they were all asylum seekers. Maybe some committed crimes and came to America 10 years ago. Maybe some had been here a long time but lost their immigration case while free. Maybe some requested self-deportation.

But I definitely know there were people who asked for asylum, were denied, and spent over a year in immigration detention.

- Can new flights be predicted? If they have been happening regularly since January, this is clearly not the last time.

- Each detention center has its own rules. The surest sign that a person is going to be deported or transferred to another detention center is when their internal account [for spending inside the immigration jail] is reset.

Sometimes people find out they are being deported on the day of deportation. Sometimes they get a two-day warning — they say: prepare, the day after tomorrow we’re taking you away. Then there is a chance to notify relatives. But I’ve never heard of anyone being told the route or details about the group they will be traveling with.

- Am I right in understanding that when people are deported from the USA to Russia on a charter flight, they have no chance to leave during a layover?

- It’s not about whether it’s a charter flight or not, but whether there is an escort. In this case, there was an escort — they were met at the airport in Egypt and accompanied to the plane to Moscow. So there were no options there. As far as I know, someone tried to escape but was forcibly stopped and escorted onto the plane.

- What should political asylum seekers in the USA do to avoid ending up on such a plane?

- Let’s start with how people enter the deportation process. A person comes to seek asylum, ends up in detention for some reason, and a court process begins. The person has the chance to go through immigration court and file two appeals. If the second appeal is lost, deportation becomes inevitable. Until that path is fully completed, there is some chance.

There are rare cases when even after losing everything, new circumstances appear. The court and two appeals take about a year and a half. During this time, the person might be declared wanted in Russia. Then these are new circumstances that can be used to try to reopen the case and attempt to get political asylum.

But if you enter deportation, you have no choice about how you will be deported: in a small group or large, by charter or commercial flight. ICE [immigration police] compiles the lists. They send these lists to Russia for confirmation. Russia confirms: yes, these are our citizens, we accept them. So there is some bureaucratic work around the deportation. Then ICE starts gathering people from various detention centers, looking for a plane to send them on. I don’t know what this depends on — their budgets, plans, or something else.

How they choose these people is also unclear to me. For example, the last plane was assembled literally from all over the country — from detention centers in Washington state, from southern states. These are internal ICE regulations they don’t share.

- Recently on Olga Romanova’s show you talked about the case of political refugee Albert Khamitov from Moscow, who after 14 months in detention was released and received American documents. What was the key factor in his success?

- Albert won the court case, that’s the whole secret. The government just appealed that court decision, and he waited 10 months for the appellate commission’s decision in immigration detention. But this is not a unique case.

- What determines whether a person wins or loses their immigration court case? Firstly, the person themselves and their preparation — how real and weighty their circumstances are for requesting political asylum. Secondly, it depends on the judge. Because there are judges with a very low approval rate. On average, for Russian cases, approval is about 75-80% nationwide, but some immigration judges have approval rates from 0 to 15%. These are much more biased judges, where it’s hard to win the case.

- How did you get involved with Russian immigrants seeking political asylum in the USA?

- I myself am also a political refugee; I came to the USA in March 2022 when the war started. Our NGO was registered in 2023; I joined it in early 2024. One of our guys went through detention himself and after release started helping others in the same situation. At some point, he learned that Russians who crossed the Mexican border [seeking political asylum] were brought to our state. And we are at the exact opposite end of the country, on the Canadian border. This hadn’t happened before. When we found out about them, we went to meet them. At first, it was communication in the same format as correspondence with political prisoners — when you just start talking to a stranger about normal human topics: about yourself, your cats, how you ended up in America.

But this didn’t last long because people primarily shared information about being in an unfair situation. We began to find out how we could help and made this a separate project of our organization. Then we found other organizations interested in this as well. And basically, we have a joint large project with RADR, which is not only for detention centers in our state — now we work with various detention centers across the country. We can translate documents into English, google some information a person needs. We arrange consultations with lawyers for those in immigration detention — we ourselves cannot give legal advice because we lack qualifications.

- How many clients does your organization have now?

- The number constantly changes because people are transferred from state to state, some are deported, some are picked up from the streets — mass arrests of migrants on the outside are happening now and they are sent to detention centers. But overall, about 100 people are in our large joint project with RADR, including 15 Russians in our state.

- On Olga Romanova’s show, you advised Russian citizens to request deportation to third countries if they can prove ties to these countries — for example, if a person was born in a former USSR republic or has relatives elsewhere. Does it mean that none of the people put on that plane had such an opportunity?

- We recorded the interview with Olga in early July, and since then a lot has changed. There are several stories where a third-country embassy was ready to accept a person — but the American government still sent them to Russia. And this is not a one-off case.

- What now awaits those deported from American immigration detention centers in Russia?

- As far as I know, many of those who landed in Moscow on the last deportation flight are under a non-exit order and banned from crossing the border. So even if they are free, when they arrive at the airport, they won’t be able to leave the country.

- Was this non-exit order imposed on them upon arrival, then?

- Yes, immediately. They were told right away that now they are non-exit. Now they are classic political prisoners. Regardless of what the person had, why they sought asylum, or why they were denied, after the entire procedure and their return to Russia, they are under special surveillance by the security services. They clearly have some restrictions and will likely face interrogations in the future.

We will monitor the situation as much as possible. We are getting contacts of some of the deported people. We will try, together with human rights defenders, to provide them with legal assistance or, if possible, help with leaving Russia.

Since July 31, over 30,000 signatures have been collected on “Most” under an open letter to the American authorities against deportations of Russian political asylum seekers from the USA to Russia. We will deliver the petition to the addressees on September 1. You can join our campaign here.