Who has been deported from the U.S. to Armenia

Recently, a Boeing 767-300 aircraft arriving from the U.S. landed in Yerevan, bringing deported citizens back to Armenia. Lara Kareyan, a lawyer and founder of MI Legal Solutions agency based in Los Angeles, stated in an interview with NEWS.am that these individuals had illegally crossed the U.S. border after January 2024 and were being held in detention centers, with final court decisions already made regarding their cases.

"They are people who either did not appeal the court rulings or simply wished to return to their country of citizenship. There have been cases where an individual in a migration detention center opted to abandon their appeal or choose voluntary return because they could not withstand the conditions of detention," she mentioned.

Kareyan noted that they do not have information on how many citizens returned to Armenia on that flight, but there are over 3,000 Armenians in migration detention centers. "Legally, nothing has changed in the United States; however, due to this administration's policy, migration regulations have tightened. I advise citizens not to panic, and when a migration service employee approaches, for example, in the street, asking about their migration status and requesting documents, they should answer honestly and present their documents. This concerns individuals whose asylum cases are pending," the lawyer emphasized.

However, Kareyan pointed out that there are no guarantees that during the next scheduled meeting at the migration service, these individuals will not be detained and sent to migration detention centers, where their asylum petitions will continue to be processed. "Such cases have been very common. This concerns citizens who have come to the U.S. via the Mexican border. They visit migration centers once or twice a year. Citizens who entered the U.S. on a visa and applied for asylum do not have this problem and have no reason to be concerned," the lawyer concluded.