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Nevada sisters facing possible deportation to be released from LA

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  • Nevada sisters facing possible deportation to be released from LA

    Associated Press
    Jan 28 2005

    Nevada sisters facing possible deportation to be released from LA
    center


    LOS ANGELES - Immigration officials agreed late Thursday to release
    into their father's custody two Armenian teenage sisters facing
    possible deportation, overriding a federal judge's ruling that the
    two must remain at a Los Angeles immigration facility.

    Earlier Thursday, U.S. Magistrate Judge Robert Johnston in Las Vegas
    said he could find no legal basis to return Emma Sarkisian, 18, and
    her sister Mariam, 17, to their family while their deportation case
    is pending.

    "I have to have the law, have to have some authority" to issue such
    an order, Johnston said. "As I read the law, I don't have any
    authority."

    Late Thursday, however, Immigration and Customs Enforcement
    spokeswoman Virginia Kice confirmed that officials had agreed to
    release the girls to their father, who is a legal resident. She said
    they would be handed over on Friday.

    "We've thoroughly reviewed the case and have decided based on
    humanitarian reasons to release them," Kice told The Associated
    Press. "This doesn't convey any legal immigration status on them."

    Kice said the girls would be allowed to return to Las Vegas but had
    not been given permanent authorization to remain in the United
    States.

    "ICE will continue to review the case," she said. It was unclear
    whether the two would be able to work while they awaited a final
    decision on their status.

    Their father, who runs the Tropicana Pizza restaurant in Henderson,
    Nev., said after the decision the process is keeping him on an
    emotional roller-coaster.

    "It's like life - one time up, one time down," Rouben Sarkisian told
    the Las Vegas Sun.

    Johnston said he'll schedule a hearing to determine if the girls will
    be deported after lawyers file additional arguments on Tuesday.

    The federal government had threatened to deport the sisters to
    Armenia, the country in which they were born but barely know. In
    1991, the sisters moved to the United States with their parents, who
    later divorced. Although their father became a legal resident, his
    ex-wife did not. The girls were ordered deported in 1993 and attempts
    to make their status legal were blocked when the order was
    discovered.

    They have since become involved in a lengthy appeals process.

    If their father becomes a U.S. citizen he could petition for their
    residency.

    On Wednesday, Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., called
    Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge and asked for "personal
    attention" in the Sarkisian case.

    Tessa Hafen, spokeswoman for Reid, said the senator "is fairly
    confident this will reach resolution," with the girls being allowed
    to stay in the country.
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