Corinne Ramey

Update: Could a Private Bill Save Valedictorian from Deportation?

A few days ago, I wrote about Arthur Mkoyan, the high school valedictorian in California who is scheduled to be deported to Armenia after he graduates. Although Arthur dreams of studying medicine at a university in California, ICE officials plan to send him and his parents back to Armenia because they are currently undocumented. The family has been seeking legal asylum in the U.S. for more than 10 years.

CNN has a good article with more details on the situation:

"I haven't been in Armenia since I was 2, so I don't really know anything about the place," said Arthur Mkoyan, 17. "All I've seen is just videos my mom has watched on the Internet." Mkoyan's long-term plans were turned upside down one morning in April when two immigration officers arrived at the door of his family's house.

"They took both of my parents, and they released my mom because she had to take care of us, since me and my brother are minors," he recalled. "But instead they took my dad away to a detention center in Arizona. Mkoyan, who has a grade-point average above 4.0 -- extra credit for Advanced Placement classes makes that possible -- is set to graduate next week from Bullard High School in Fresno, California.

Ten days later, Immigration and Customs Enforcement plans to deport him and his family to the Armenian capital city of Yerevan, the same city his family fled in fear 16 years ago.

The office of Sen. Dianne Feinstein is looking into the possibility of passing a "private bill" that would allow the Mkoyan family to remain in the country. Arthur has requested that people send letters of support to him -- artmkoyan@gmail.com -- so that he can forward them to Feinstein.

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Posted at 3:45 PM, Jun 09, 2008 in Immigration
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