Motion made to free sisters

Friday, Jan. 21, 2005 | 10:59 a.m.

The legal team representing the Sarkisians, an Armenian family whose teenage daughters are threatened with being deported to their birthplace, has filed an emergency motion to release the girls from a Los Angeles immigration detention cell.

"What's the point of detaining them? They're young girls who should be with their family," said attorney Jeremiah Wolf Stuchiner this morning.

"They're not a flight risk and detaining them is just costing taxpayers money," he said.

The case involves Emma Sarkisian, 18, and her sister, Mariam Sarkisian, 17. They are threatened with deportation because their immigration status was never straightened out although they have lived here 14 years, during which time their father, Rouben, has become a U.S. resident, the step below citizenship -- according to the family and their attorney.

The Sarkisian family also includes three younger girls who were born on U.S. soil and therefore are citizens.

The family has been broken up since last week after immigration authorities arrested the daughters last Friday and sent them to Los Angeles, where flights to Russia leave once daily.

Stuchiner was able to obtain a stay from the federal magistrate in Las Vegas, arguing that immigration authorities should wait four months while Rouben prepares himself to become a citizen.

Once Rouben is a citizen, he can petition for his daughters, and they can become residents, Stuchiner said.

The attorney said the federal magistrate can decide on the emergency motion at any time.

Meanwhile, family friend Marina Protopopova said members of the Sarkisian family are driving today to Los Angeles to seek support from the Armenian community there.

As of this morning there was also no court date to decide on the larger issue of whether the daughters should be allowed to stay in the United States until their father becomes a citizen, Stuchiner said.

"I'm arguing that it is the federal court's discretion and humanitarian interest to let them stay," Stuchiner said.