‘The beginning of our hell’: Armenian family seeks justice after husband’s ICE detention
Family has filed a petition to challenge unlawful detention of more than five months
A local Armenian family is calling for justice after a husband and father was detained by the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement and has been held at a detention center for more than five months.
By Maya Brown
Live5news.com
CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) — A local Armenian family is calling for justice after a husband and father was detained by the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement and has been held at a detention center for more than five months.
Garik Mkrtchyan and his family moved to the Lowcountry from Armenia in 2022 in search of a better life. However, on the morning of Aug. 6 of last year, he was apprehended by ICE agents in two unmarked vehicles as he was on his way to work and was then arrested without an explanation or documentation at the time of the arrest. He was then taken to the Folkston ICE Processing Center in Folkston, Georgia.
“It was the beginning of our hell,” Anahit Sirunyan, Garik’s wife says.
Sirunyan says she is now left to be the breadwinner and work full-time, pay the mortgage and take care of her two younger children with the oldest son away at college. On top of that, she says she is in and out of depression and has been struggling mentally and emotionally.
“In Armenian culture, the man is the provider and protector of the family,” she says. “And not to have him beside me is the first time since we’ve been married. Legally, we have all the rights, all the bases and all the grounds to fight our case, but I need him next to me to be able to fight with full force.”
A local Armenian family is calling for justice after a husband and father was taken by the…
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Mkrtchyan and his family had initially arrived in the U.S. on a six-month B-2 visa and then applied for asylum while their B-2 visa was still active, making the period of time during their pending asylum application a lawful presence under the Immigration and Nationality Act. While the application was pending, Anahit says they received Social Security numbers and work authorization.
When applying for asylum with the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, Garik said if he was forced to return to Armenia, he faces a high likelihood of torture or death because of his open support and affiliation with the political opposition of the current regime.
Everyone who raises their voice and speaks against the current political administration is considered an enemy,” Sirunyan says. “It’s going to be harmful if we go back.”
The Mkrtchyan family has since appealed Garik’s detention various times and has also filed a petition to challenge the unlawful detention, otherwise known as a writ of habeas corpus. The petition states the Department of Homeland Security has opposed his release on the grounds Garik applied for a rifle license, which the petition says is his Second Amendment right to do so.
“He’s been a hunter and a fisher since 2001,” Sirunyan says.
During his time here in the Lowcountry, his family says he became a large part of the community through owning a mortgage home in Charleston and operating his own company, Coastal Electricians LLC.
Gracen Watts, a local mortgage broker who helped the Mkrtchyan family with their Charleston mortgage, says it was disheartening to see what happened to them.
“It’s really horrible because not only are they not able to make the mortgage, so now the mortgage company is damaged, but the family is so distraught,” Watts says.
In the meantime, Watts has created a fundraiser and has raised about $20,000 to help the family with mortgage payments and legal fees.
“You think about the kind of people that they talk about deporting and they’re supposed to be these horrible people and Garik and Anahit and their kids are the sweetest family,” Watts says. “They just keep to themselves, they do everything right, they were following the rules and they got caught up in this thing and it’s just not right.”
With strong community ties and no criminal record, the family says they have seen a large amount of support in wanting him to return to his family in Charleston.
“I just hope Garik is okay,” Watts says. “I can’t wait to see him again and I hope that he’s not deported. I just hope for a happy ending.”
The family is currently waiting to hear the decision of the habeas corpus to get a chance to stand before a federal judge.
“Everyone deserves the right to live,” Sirunyan says. “And you could just give us a notice that you’re not allowed to stay here anymore, not just to detain and arrest us like criminals and to deport us when we give back to this country, worked for this country, raised proud and really good kids for this country, I don’t think it’s fair.”
