'Trump Admin Returns Russian Dissident Asylum Seekers to Putin'

(TPm) "In late August, a group of Russians who had asked and not received political asylum from the U.S. government found themselves back home. Immigration and Customs Enforcement had put them on a circuitous route: after being picked up from an airport in Alexandria, Louisiana, they made stops in the Caribbean before moving onwards to Cairo, Egypt...From Cairo, a plane took them to Moscow."

"Those on board had spent months trying to persuade the U.S. government not to send them back to Russia. In the case of one man, Artem Vovchenko, he was doing so after deserting the Russian military. Activists who spoke with those deported told TPM that Vovchenko and another man were detained upon arrival in Moscow."

"The episode has caused panic among Russian dissidents and exiles. Many of them fled the country in the years after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Thousands sought refuge in the U.S., telling immigration authorities that they fear imprisonment or persecution."

"Now, anti-Putin Russian activist groups are warning against seeking refuge in the U.S. One group, the Russian Anti-War Committee, issued a statement last month saying that for those wishing to seek asylum in the U.S., 'recent events demonstrate that the likelihood of ending up back in the hands of Putinist authorities are incredibly high.' Prominent Russian opposition politicians, including Alexei Navalny’s widow, recently asked the Canadian government in an open letter to provide asylum to Russians facing deportation from the U.S."

Continued at link:

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/trump-admin-returns-russian-dissident-asylum-seekers-to-putin