Physician Repeatedly Denied Asylum Claim
Russom Ghebrai, a prominent physician at Greater Southeast Community Hospital in Washington, DC, and his wife, Minya, have been ordered deported to their native Eritrea. Dr. Ghebrai serves in a medically underserved area in a hospital that almost closed last year in part because of its inability to attract doctors.
Minya Ghebrai filed for asylum based on her arrest, detention and torture at age 19 by soldiers of the Eritrea government. In 1994, she fled the country after being interrogated again about her past membership in the Eritrean Liberation Front and arrived in the US in visitor status. After she left the country, officers interrogated Dr. Ghebrai about Minya’s whereabouts. He then followed Minya to the US in 1996 after obtaining a J-1 visa to train in the Veterans Affairs medical center in Los Angeles.
The US has repeatedly denied the case, based on discrepancies in testimony and issues with documents their attorneys submitted. One judge questioned the couple's identities and marriage.
Their first immigration judge held multiple hearings and then was placed on leave because he made an inappropriate comment to a Ugandan woman in another case. The judge’s replacement decided that the couple needed to retell their stories and then denied the case, since Minya could not remember the exact number of times she said she had been raped in prison. An appeal to the Board of Immigration Appeals of this decision was also denied. They then appealed to the US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, which dismissed their petition without scheduling arguments.
The
couple’s current attorney is trying to obtain “deferred action” to put the
couple’s deportation on hold.
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