Sarkisian family’s quest continues

By Timothy Pratt

Monday, May 16, 2005 | 10:58 a.m.

Sitting at a Formica table in that most American of institutions, the pizza parlor, Ukrainian-born Rouben Sarkisian made a fist-pounding point about the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

"This is everywhere real," he said.

"It hasn't changed since 1776 ... and this is a real democratic republic."

The point, perhaps obvious for most, was a revelation for Sarkisian -- who learned while studying for the federal citizenship exam he recently took and passed -- that the United States is the way it is now because of events 229 years ago.

Sarkisian is the father of Emma and Mariam, perhaps the most famous teenage sisters living illegally in the United States and almost certainly the only ones in recent history saved from deportation by a last-minute phone call from a high-ranking senator to the secretary of homeland security.

His passing the test was key to the future of his daughters, since becoming a citizen is the only way he can then petition for them to do the same, which would guarantee their future in the United States.

But the case -- already full of headline-grabbing twists and turns -- is still not over because passing the test, which included such questions as "What were the original 13 colonies?" is not the same as being accepted as a citizen.

As Peter Ashman, head of the local chapter of American Immigration Lawyers Association, put it, "He's a step closer, but he's not there yet."

That step was taken in the half-hour exam April 20, after months of late-night studying between pizzas at the Tropicana Pizza in Green Valley that Rouben runs.

He said he was very nervous, since many people had told him the test would be difficult for someone whose years of 12-hour work days had left little time for studying English, let alone U.S. history and politics.

But he passed, which felt, he said, "like an angel came down."

That means he knew the answers to questions such as, "How many senators are there in the Congress?" and "What is the Bill of Rights?"

Now he awaits a letter from federal immigration officials notifying him of being approved in his application to become a citizen, at which point he would be scheduled to take an oath of citizenship at the George Federal Building.

If he reaches that step, he would be one of an average of about 300 new citizens a month in the Las Vegas area, according to Marie Sebrechts, spokeswoman for the Bureau of Customs and Immigration Services.

And then he could petition for his daughters to acquire legal status.

As with everything in this case, however, there's a catch, and more last-minute events may be in store.

The catch comes from the conditions left in place after Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., called Tom Ridge on Jan. 26 and asked the official -- whose office oversees immigration -- to give the case "personal attention."

The sisters had been detained in Las Vegas Jan. 14 and sent to a Los Angeles holding cell pending deportation to Armenia, their birthplace.

The story of the Sarkisian sisters began more than a decade earlier, however, when their parents brought them to this country. The couple had three more daughters here, then got divorced. Rouben married a U.S. citizen and obtained status as a resident, the step below citizenship.

He thought he had obtained status for Emma and Mariam as well over the years but found out otherwise when on Jan. 14 he took them to the Las Vegas office of the Bureau of Customs and Immigration Services for papers he thought would allow Emma to obtain a driver's license.

Instead, the sisters were sent to Los Angeles and scheduled to be sent back to Armenia, a country where they don't speak the language and have no family.

The media caught wind of the case. The public opposed the move and let Nevada's congressional delegation know it. Reid made the call to Ridge after nearly two weeks of constant headlines and dozens of calls and letters to his office.

But federal authorities released Emma and Mariam under what's called a "deferred action." This means they still have no legal status in the country and must report to authorities periodically. Their first appointment is scheduled for late July.

So now the family is nervous about what happens if Rouben hears nothing about his application until then, and they wonder why it's taking so long to hear from immigration authorities.

Ashman said he has seen some cases take a year or more to be resolved. One reason for the hold-up could be that the FBI background check required of all applicants may not have been completed, he said.

The Rev. Phil Carolin, executive director of the Citizenship Project, a nonprofit organization that helps immigrants become citizens, said that most people who seek help at his agency receive their acceptance letter, which includes the swearing-in date, within two to six weeks of having passed the test.

Kathia Pereira, an immigration lawyer who works pro bono for the project, said that federal law says immigration authorities must respond in 120 days or less, but are taking longer since Sept. 11, mostly because of the FBI check.

Sebrechts said that about 15 percent of all applicants who pass the test then have the same line checked off that was checked off for Rouben's case on a form called "Naturalization Interview Results."

The line says simply, "A decision cannot yet be made about your application."

Carolin said those who have that line checked off in his agency wait an average of six months to hear from authorities.

At the same time, however, Virginia Kice, spokeswoman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said Emma and Mariam's stay in the United States is not necessarily in jeopardy just because the father's application for citizenship is still up in the air.

"The period of their deferred action is indefinite ... (and) no enforcement action is imminent," she said.

The appointment for the sisters in July "is to check up on the status of their case and see if anything has changed."

Meanwhile, Rouben continues working in his pizza parlor and says that he "remember(s) everything" he learned while studying for his exam.

"This is a real democratic republic," he repeats.

"I am so happy my babies live in this country."