Vardan Ghukasyan in custody in US
The founder of the DOK party, Vardan Ghukasyan, was arrested by ICE officers and placed into custody in Las Vegas, Nevada, Alethea Smock, Director of Communications for the Northwest Region of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said in response to an inquiry from Armenpress.
According to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, 47-year-old Ghukasyan entered the United States on Feb. 19, 2022, and failed to depart under the terms of his admission.
“Vardan Yurik Gukasian, 47, is an Armenian national who is in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody in Las Vegas, Nevada. Gukasian was arrested by ICE officers on Feb. 20 and placed into custody for his immigration proceedings. He entered the United States on Feb. 19, 2022, and failed to depart under the terms of his admission,” said Alethea Smock, Director of Communications for the Northwest Region of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
On background:
When a criminal alien is placed in removal proceedings, they have various procedural protections, including the right to attorney representation, contest removal charges, and present or examine evidence. Though the government does not provide attorneys, detainees have access to free communication services, including legal services lists from the Department of Justice and the American Bar Association’s Legal Orientation Program. They can also communicate for free with attorneys via video teleconference at 53 ICE facilities, or pay for calls using GettingOut.com. Detention facilities provide at least five hours per week of law library access and daily in-person legal visitation, with specific hours outlined on the ICE website. Immigration judges from the DOJ’s Executive Office of Immigration Review oversee the proceedings and ensure legal due process, making decisions that ICE enforces.
While in removal proceedings, aliens receive their legal due process from federal immigration judges in the immigration courts, which are administered by the EOIR. EOIR is an agency within the Department of Justice and is separate from the Department of Homeland Security and ICE. Immigration judges in these courts make decisions based on the merits of each individual case. ICE officers carry out the removal decisions made by the federal immigration judges.
