< back
GROUPS HELP SIBERIAN MAN SEEK ASYLUM IN CANADA
Denis Dementiev fled his native Siberia last fall, escaping the abuse he suffered because he is homosexual.  He always intended to seek asylum in Canada, where he has a sister who was granted refugee status.  However, he was not able to qualify for a Canadian visa, so he flew into Mexico City.  His plan was to cross through the US and make his way to Canada.  However, right after he crossed the US-Mexico border he was caught by the Border Patrol and detained.  This was on December 2, 1999. 
Now, thanks to the efforts of gay and Jewish groups, Dementiev is in Canada.  The groups raised the money necessary to post his 00 bond and pay for his transportation to the Canadian border.  Most people who seek to transverse the US to Canada are not so lucky.  Because they are fleeing their home country, they seldom have financial resources to post bond is apprehended by US authorities. 
Dementiev did file an asylum application in the US.  He claimed that after he told a friend he was gay, he was beaten by gangs almost every day.  He also said that his family was not allowed to practice Judaism, although it was not clear whether this was separate religious persecution or because of Dementiev’s sexual orientation.  
According to Chris Nugent, the director of the Florence (AZ) Immigrant and Refugee Rights Project, who represented Dementiev, he was about one month away from being denied asylum and deported back to Siberia.  While the US will allow an asylum claim to be based on persecution because of sexual orientation, such cases are very difficult to win.  The Canadian system is much more receptive to such claims.  Contrasting the US and Canadian systems, Nugent said Canada’s was “more generous to newcomers that in the US.  He’ll at least get access to care.  Here you’re entitled to nothing.”