Human rights initiative ByAction has clarified information regarding the possible deportation of Belarusian citizens from the United States to Belize, stressing that it has no confirmation that the relevant court orders have been carried out.
Commenting on a Reform.news report, ByAction founder Yauhen Zhdanovich said the organization has reliable information only about two decisions by the immigration court in West Los Angeles ordering the deportation of Belarusian citizens to Belize. However, human rights defenders have no confirmation that those decisions have been enforced.
“We have no confirmed information that these people were actually deported. All we know for certain is that the court ordered their deportation to Belize, but we do not know whether that decision was carried out. Most likely, it was not.
We have not been able to establish the identities of either the Belarusian citizens who were ordered deported to Belize or the attorneys who represented them. The search is ongoing. The only information we have is that the case was heard by a judge of the West Los Angeles Immigration Court,” he said.
According to Zhdanovich, it is also unknown whether an appeal was filed against the deportation order.
“We know for certain that these individuals were represented by an attorney, so it can be assumed that the decision was probably appealed. However, we have no confirmation of that,” the ByAction founder added.
ByAction has also reviewed publicly available documents concerning arrangements between the United States and Belize.
“Based on the available information, immigration authorities could face practical obstacles when attempting to enforce deportation orders that would prevent them from deporting Belarusian citizens to Belize. There are no grounds to believe that Belize was prepared to accept citizens of countries outside Latin America,” Zhdanovich said.
“At present, we are particularly concerned about the risk that our compatriots could be mistakenly deported to another country. This is the most serious challenge at the moment,” he stressed.
ByAction first published information about the immigration court decision on July 22. At the time, it said that human rights defenders were aware of two cases in which a court in California had issued such decisions.
“We are looking for information about Belarusian citizens whom an immigration court in California ordered deported to Belize. We know for certain of two cases involving the same immigration judge. If you have any information about these or similar decisions, please contact us,” the statement said.
