Some family friends are part of a diaspora seeking asylum from Russia. Their hearing dates all fall inside 2026.
Part of their asylum plea is admission to activities that Russia criminalized during the invasion of Ukraine - draft dodging, dissemination information about the invasion, and sending aid money to their relatives in Ukrainian.
If they were deported back to Russia, their asylum plea would ostensibly be used as an admission of guilt.
With the change in administrations, there is a lot of consternation in the community that their hearing will go badly or be cancelled altogether. Is there any indication what will happen with these cases yet?
I've heard about those concerns but there's really no clear indication yet how asylum applicants from Russia will be treated by the new administration.
Part of their asylum plea is admission to activities that Russia criminalized during the invasion of Ukraine - draft dodging, dissemination information about the invasion, and sending aid money to their relatives in Ukrainian.
If they were deported back to Russia, their asylum plea would ostensibly be used as an admission of guilt.
With the change in administrations, there is a lot of consternation in the community that their hearing will go badly or be cancelled altogether. Is there any indication what will happen with these cases yet?