Russian woman Alevtina Soboleva was released from a temporary detention center by US immigration authorities several weeks after being detained by agents. Together with their daughter, they told RTVI that they are now working with lawyers to determine what the next steps may be for the 59-year-old woman, who previously requested political asylum in the United States.
As RTVI previously reported, the formal reason for Soboleva’s detention at the Buffalo airport was an expired visa, on which she entered in 2021. Her daughter Daria noted that plain-clothed Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents did not provide identification and took her mother first to a facility in New York state and then transferred to Louisiana. The family lives in California.
Soboleva Sr., according to her daughter, had the necessary documents to stay in the United States and submitted an application for political asylum, which was still being considered at the time of her arrest.
In an interview after being released on bail, Soboleva noted that she became very ill during her stay in migration prisons.
“I wasn’t the only one who was freezing, everyone was freezing. I got very sick. The treatment I received was clearly insufficient. I’m still sick,” the Russian woman said, adding that the nurse at the center agreed with her, but noted that “she couldn’t do anything more.”
Her daughter Daria Soboleva, who works in the USA, noted that she is now afraid of business trips to other regions. In July, she invited her mother on a work trip to the east of the country to see Niagara Falls together.
“Now it’s emotionally difficult to go on any business trips. If possible, I refuse. I’m very afraid to leave my mother alone,” said the daughter of the freed Russian woman.
They added that in the city of Sunnyvale in California, where they live, everyone supports them, but the family continues to be in a state of “unknown and fear.”
“Specialists in the field of migration, who have extensive experience and know how it works in America, they themselves are now trying to understand how to act correctly and what needs to be done. This is a new reality for them,” Soboleva Jr. noted.
Earlier, migration lawyer Irina Matiychenko told RTVI about the risks when trying to obtain political asylum in the United States. As she noted, during Donald Trump's second term, immigration officers were given “tremendous discretion.”
