Orphaned Child Is Reunited With Coney Island Granny
It was a case like many others, except it had a happy ending.
By Emily Keller
Comment
It was a case like many others, except it had a happy ending.
Twelve-year-old Raisa Skakun was recently reunited with her grandmother and brother in Coney Island after being left behind in the Ukraine because the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) denied her entry into the U.S.
Raisa lived in a Jewish orphanage after the death of her mother, Natalia Kruglova, in 2001. Her father died in 1999, and her maternal grandmother, who is now her adoptive mother, has been living in Brooklyn for the past five years with Raisa’s 17-year-old brother Alex, a junior at Edward R. Murrow High School, 1600 Avenue L .
Raisa’s grandmother, Larisa Bebeshko, adopted Raisa in 2004 with the hope of bringing her to Brooklyn, and filed an I-130 petition to bring Raisa to the U.S. on “humanitarian parole” in March 2004.
Raisa’s case made headlines, in turn increasing pressure on ICE to grant her humanitarian parole, which the agency did after the third request made on behalf of the girl. But case workers say her situation is not unusual.
Irina Matiychenko, a lawyer with the New York Legal Assistance Group (NYLAG) sees cases like Raisa’s all the time, and said that only one in fifty or more similar requests are granted. “It’s difficult to say why in this particular case it was denied,” she said about the first request made on behalf of Raisa. “Actually they’re not supposed to explain,” she said about ICE. It’s possible a letter that State Senator Chuck Schumer sent to Kenneth Leutbecker, director of the Parole and Humanitarian Assistance Branch for DHS on November 1, 2005, had something to do with it.
“This is a young child who has been denied parental love and emotional support for the past four years. She has a loving family that is awaiting her with open arms here in the United States, but because of the backlogs has been unable to join them,” he wrote.
A community representative and case worker for Rep. Jerrold Nadler also got involved. The representative, Rena Diamond, said she first heard about Raisa’s case in 2004, and suggested that Raisa’s mother seek legal advice, which she did with NYLAG. Diamond then helped petition on Raisa’s behalf to speed the process that would bring her to Brooklyn.
“This was an emergency. A little girl was left in an orphanage and the family…wanted to take care of her,” Diamond said.
“She hasn’t gotten the green card yet but that process has been started,” Diamond said. Raisa’s grandmother has an interview for citizenship scheduled in March. Raisa would then derive citizenship through her mother. The family has not yet determined where Raisa will attend school.
“I hope that in six [to] eight months Raisa becomes a citizen,” said Matiychenko, who first found out about Raisa’s case when she read about her in a Russian newspaper. “This stuff is very emotional and it was very difficult.”
About the year and a half that elapsed while she worked on the case, Matiychenko said, “Raisa of course was desperate. Each time they called her she was crying.”
Diamond said she is not sure what finally changed at the DHS that allowed Raisa to dry her tears and pack her bags. “There was a time when it looked like she would not get this…There was a lot of pressure from various entities, and I don’t know which one thing did it. It could have been a combination of everything.”
When she found out Raisa was on her way to Brooklyn several weeks ago, Diamond said, “I was thrilled. I think that was wonderful. So many people had worked so hard on this and you feel personally involved. Everybody’s happy about this.”
“It was really a team effort,” echoed Reid Cherlin, a representative for Nadler, adding that staff members in his office “process these kinds of requests all the time.”
Twelve-year-old Raisa Skakun was recently reunited with her grandmother and brother in Coney Island after being left behind in the Ukraine because the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) denied her entry into the U.S.
Raisa lived in a Jewish orphanage after the death of her mother, Natalia Kruglova, in 2001. Her father died in 1999, and her maternal grandmother, who is now her adoptive mother, has been living in Brooklyn for the past five years with Raisa’s 17-year-old brother Alex, a junior at Edward R. Murrow High School, 1600 Avenue L .
Raisa’s grandmother, Larisa Bebeshko, adopted Raisa in 2004 with the hope of bringing her to Brooklyn, and filed an I-130 petition to bring Raisa to the U.S. on “humanitarian parole” in March 2004.
Raisa’s case made headlines, in turn increasing pressure on ICE to grant her humanitarian parole, which the agency did after the third request made on behalf of the girl. But case workers say her situation is not unusual.
Irina Matiychenko, a lawyer with the New York Legal Assistance Group (NYLAG) sees cases like Raisa’s all the time, and said that only one in fifty or more similar requests are granted. “It’s difficult to say why in this particular case it was denied,” she said about the first request made on behalf of Raisa. “Actually they’re not supposed to explain,” she said about ICE. It’s possible a letter that State Senator Chuck Schumer sent to Kenneth Leutbecker, director of the Parole and Humanitarian Assistance Branch for DHS on November 1, 2005, had something to do with it.
“This is a young child who has been denied parental love and emotional support for the past four years. She has a loving family that is awaiting her with open arms here in the United States, but because of the backlogs has been unable to join them,” he wrote.
A community representative and case worker for Rep. Jerrold Nadler also got involved. The representative, Rena Diamond, said she first heard about Raisa’s case in 2004, and suggested that Raisa’s mother seek legal advice, which she did with NYLAG. Diamond then helped petition on Raisa’s behalf to speed the process that would bring her to Brooklyn.
“This was an emergency. A little girl was left in an orphanage and the family…wanted to take care of her,” Diamond said.
“She hasn’t gotten the green card yet but that process has been started,” Diamond said. Raisa’s grandmother has an interview for citizenship scheduled in March. Raisa would then derive citizenship through her mother. The family has not yet determined where Raisa will attend school.
“I hope that in six [to] eight months Raisa becomes a citizen,” said Matiychenko, who first found out about Raisa’s case when she read about her in a Russian newspaper. “This stuff is very emotional and it was very difficult.”
About the year and a half that elapsed while she worked on the case, Matiychenko said, “Raisa of course was desperate. Each time they called her she was crying.”
Diamond said she is not sure what finally changed at the DHS that allowed Raisa to dry her tears and pack her bags. “There was a time when it looked like she would not get this…There was a lot of pressure from various entities, and I don’t know which one thing did it. It could have been a combination of everything.”
When she found out Raisa was on her way to Brooklyn several weeks ago, Diamond said, “I was thrilled. I think that was wonderful. So many people had worked so hard on this and you feel personally involved. Everybody’s happy about this.”
“It was really a team effort,” echoed Reid Cherlin, a representative for Nadler, adding that staff members in his office “process these kinds of requests all the time.”
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