FEINSTEIN MAY FILE BILL TO HELP TEEN FACING DEPORTATION
By Vanessa Colon
Sacramento Bee
June 8 2008
CA
FRESNO – Arthur Mkoyan, a high school valedictorian who may be deported
to Armenia this month, is counting on letters of support from across
the state and nation to help him.
Mkoyan, 17, of Fresno pleaded to classmates, friends and teachers
at his hometown Bullard High School on Friday to write letters
to Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein encouraging her to introduce
legislation that would enable him and his parents to stay in the
United States.
Friday was his last day of class at the school. Mkoyan will graduate
Tuesday at the Save Mart Center.
The valedictorian with a 4.0 grade-point average drew attention across
the nation after his story first appeared in the Fresno Bee. He
plans to attend the University of California, Davis, where he has
been accepted.
The letters of support are important, Mkoyan said.
"It’s to convince the people who are judging the private bill," he
said Friday. "Hopefully, they will introduce the bill by the end of
next week so all of us can stay."
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement ordered Mkoyan and his
mother to leave the United States by late June and return to Armenia,
a country Mkoyan hasn’t seen since he was 2. His 12-year-old brother,
a U.S. citizen, has no other choice but to leave with Mkoyan and his
mother if they’re deported, the family has said.
The Mkoyan family fled the former Soviet Union and has been seeking
asylum since 1992.
The father, Ruben Mkoian, ran a general store and worked as a
police officer in the then- Soviet Republic of Armenia, where he was
threatened by former Soviet government workers as the Soviet Union
was breaking up, his wife has said.
Mkoian applied for asylum but was rejected. Mkoian, who spells his
name differently than his son, appealed to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court
of Appeals in San Francisco but lost and is at a detention center
in Arizona.
Feinstein, who has introduced private bills in the past, is gathering
Mkoyan’s information to introduce a bill on his behalf, according to
Feinstein’s office in Washington, D.C. Feinstein’s office is still
waiting on some information from the family, such as letters from
the school and a church that provide a picture of the situation.
"The most important thing for them is to get as much information
as they can so Feinstein can make a decision," said Scott Gerber,
a spokesman for Feinstein.
If introduced, the bill would halt the deportation. If it passes, he
would receive a green card. But private bills rarely pass, according
to Feinstein’s office.
On Thursday, Mkoyan visited the local office of U.S. Rep. George
Radanovich, R-Mariposa. The staff listened to his story and planned
to help Feinstein’s office draft a private bill, Mkoyan said.
The congressman has sent a letter to Feinstein supporting her
legislation on behalf of Mkoyan, Radanovich spokesman Spencer Pederson
said Friday. The letter notes that such a bill was unlikely to pass
in the House, but that previous legislation of this nature has been
successful in the Senate.
On Monday, Radanovich plans to meet with the Armenian ambassador to
the United States to ask that, if deportation can’t be prevented,
Mkoyan be allowed to apply for a student visa to return to the United
States, Pederson said.
Mkoyan said he’s still surprised by the overwhelming response he’s
received.
"The help is much appreciated," he said.