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Kennewick family faces deportation
They didn't sneak across the Mexican border, and they haven't stolen anyone's Social Security number.
Nevertheless, some Mid-Columbia residents are finding the country's immigration policy leaves no room for them. Living in the country for years, attending its schools, paying taxes and even having children who are U.S. citizens doesn't appear to be enough for them to be allowed to stay.
"We played by the rules all this time. We were never hiding from Immigration ... and this is our reward," said Galina Korotkov, who has until Sept. 7 to leave the country with her husband, Alexander, and their two oldest daughters.
The Korotkovs came to Kennewick 10 years ago and sought asylum in the country as religious refugees from Russia. Their request wasn't processed for seven years -- it probably was overlooked by mistake, they said -- and they believed they had the go-ahead to stay.
Meanwhile, they bought a house, had two children who are citizens, went to church and worked. The older daughters, Inna, 14, and Yevgeniya, 11, have attended public school in Kennewick and now speak English better than Russian.
Alexander drives a truck, and until recently Galina worked at World Relief, assisting other refugees with immigration issues. As a Board of Immigration Appeals accredited representative, she helped refugees apply for green cards, citizenship, passports and with other issues.
"I have been helping a lot of other immigrants, and I am not able to help myself," she said.
The family came back onto the radar of federal immigration authorities about three years ago, and in February the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit in San Francisco denied their appeal for asylum.
The Korotkovs claimed they face religious persecution if they return to Russia. Alexander, who was a Pentecostal minister there, cited instances of churches being disbanded by police, of pastors being jailed and framed, and of a pastor's son being hanged because his father refused to quit preaching.
But the asylum office said his claims were anecdotal, that the Russian government generally supports religious expression, and that the country's intolerance tends to play out only in minor incidents or harassment.
It's not just religious persecution that the Korotkovs fear if they return to Russia. They have lived in the United States so long that they have no standing, assets or family in Russia, they said.
They also would be targets now for being too American, they said.
Like the Korotkovs, Lucy Bottomley, 23, of Walla Walla, also has lived in the country long enough that she feels like an American. A college student who loves Mariners baseball and camping in the mountains, she doesn't even have a British accent, although she's from the United Kingdom.
Bottomley moved to the U.S. with her mother and two sisters when she was 10 years old. She didn't know that her stepfather, a U.S. citizen, never filed the proper paperwork for her to get a green card.
She thought she was legal until two years ago, when her parents ended up in trouble with the law. The legal jeopardy brought to light that neither she nor her sisters or mother were legal residents.
The sisters were eligible for green cards based on their age or marital status, but the mother had to leave the country. Lucy, meanwhile, was allowed to stay until she finished college.
She'll complete an online bachelor's degree from Washington State University next month, and she'll have to be on a plane leaving the country by Sept. 15.
She acknowledges there are worse places to end up than England. But she said it's not her home anymore.
"My family's here. My friends are here. I grew up here. I don't know anything about England. I was just born there," Bottomley said.
The worst part, she said, is that if she leaves the country she'll be barred from re-entry for 10 years. She said she shouldn't be penalized because she didn't do anything wrong.
She blames her situation on her parents' negligence. "Why should I have to incur a 10-year ban for being a child and not knowing anything?" she said.
Bottomley said she's tried several avenues to stay. She supported legislation that would create a path to permanent residency for illegal residents who are attending college. She also looked into whether she could extend her stay by attending graduate school.
With the support of friends, her church and an e-mail campaign, she petitioned politicians for help. And as the clock winds down, she is trying to enlist in the Army.
Her affection for the United States hasn't been put off by its policy that would oust her.
"It's not really the country. It's the broken system of immigration," Bottomley said. "It's just a hole that somebody has overlooked and I am trying to fix."
There are people of influence who agree with her.
"We need to make it easier for people who want to come into our country legally to be able to do so and stay," said Jill Strait, spokeswoman for U.S. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash, who supports Bottomley's campaign.
It may be that Congress could increase the number of visas that are available, Strait said. But even simple proposals get tangled up in the controversies over enforcing current immigration law, changing policy, securing the border and allowing guest workers, she said.
