The Russians were caught in a ‘ban’ while crossing the US border through Mexico to seek asylum. They are now being held in immigration jails pending the outcome of an asylum trial. Now at least 50 Russian LGBT asylum seekers are being held in detention centres, one girl has been waiting for release for over 200 days.
(auto-translated from DEEPL)
Kirill Surnachev, co-founder of OURS IN THE USA, an organisation to help Russian queer refugees, told Parni PLUS. The organisation is now launching a campaign to free the prisoners. You can join it (information at the end of the news).
Under the new procedure, asylum seekers from Russia have to undergo a ‘fear interview’ and two instances of trial while remaining in detention. This procedure began on 14 June after the Biden administration tightened entry rules. The same executive order banned seeking asylum when crossing the border illegally (contrary to the provisions of the Convention on Refugee Rights).
— At first, we just psychologically helped our own who found themselves in detention, even as the time limits began to increase. We decided to address officials, human rights defenders and the media after Albert’s appeal. The young man has HIV and his medical needs are ignored in prison. A month ago, the court recognised him as a refugee and he was to be released after 30 days, but on the last day of the deadline, the prosecutor’s office appealed.
At least 50 Russian LGBT refugees are now in prison. Some of them are placed in solitary confinement, some with homophobic cellmates. As in Albert’s case, some of the queer refugees are failing to get medical care.
In addition to appeals, the process has been delayed by transfers between immigration prisons. One of the girls has been in detention for more than 200 days, although her wife was released much earlier.
— Another Russian was denied asylum by the court with the phrase ‘Go back to Russia and just don’t tell anyone you’re gay.’ He will not be deported immediately and there is hope that his husband will be granted asylum – then he will remain in the US as a partner. All this time they will have to sit in jail,’ Kirill said.
The most serious problems began in June this year, when the Biden administration tightened the procedure for requesting asylum. The same order banned asylum requests for people who crossed the border illegally (contrary to the provisions of the Convention on Refugee Rights).
Russians crossing the border as queer refugees with the CBP One app have been detained since August 2023. For the first year they detained mostly men, especially single men. They were released on bail after a ‘fear interview’ – a pre-trial interview when the migration inspector was convinced that the person really feared returning to Russia and would seek asylum. Now this interview does not affect the terms of further detention.
— All detainees are active members of our organisation who have themselves helped other refugees. We find lawyers and support them morally, but this is no longer enough. Now our goal is to achieve a fair procedure, which LGBT refugees are deprived of on the basis of their Russian passports,’ Kirill adds.
The #EndLGBTdetention campaign calls on the US authorities and LGBT organisations in the US to intervene in this injustice to free queer Russians from prison and simplify the procedure. OURS IN THE USA continues to collect reports about LGBT people in prison to send to officials and human rights activists.
You can support the campaign by sharing it on social media with the tag #EndLGBTdetention and a description of how to contact OURS IN THE USA for queer people who have been in prison for a long time: you need to write to the Telegram account @ours_intheusa.
Follow OURS IN THE USA’s Instagram account for updates on the campaign.
