Reprieve for city man facing deportation

A Charlottesville man who was facing deportation to Russia will get a second chance to have his case heard before the Board of Immigration Appeals.

Attorney Mark Urbanski said he received word Wednesday that three government agencies agreed to reopen Gennady Denisenko’s case. Denisenko, who is being detained in Texas, may be eligible for bond or release after his case is reopened in court next week.

“This was the major hurdle,” Urbanski said. “He’s clearly eligible for a green card.”

The news came just in time. Denisenko, who has been in custody since April, was “one to two weeks” away from being deported, Urbanski said. The government’s deportation efforts have since ceased.

Melinda Denisenko, Gennady’s wife, said she had been cautiously optimistic that she would hear back about her husband’s case this week. Now that the news has arrived, she said she is ecstatic.

“I feel like a ball of boundless energy,” Melinda Deni-senko said. “There is a new spring in my step.”

Since Gennady Denisenko heard a rumor that he could be deported soon, Melinda Denisenko said her husband has swung back and forth between total despair and hope. She said she doesn’t know if her husband has heard the good news yet, but she will tell him the next time he calls.

Gennady Denisenko, 57, was detained April 30 after an interview with an immigration employee in Fairfax. Prior to his detainment, the couple was told that the government would recognize their marriage and that Denisenko could get a work permit and another chance at a green card.

The former prosecutor left the Soviet Union in 1991 for the United States, where he applied for political asylum because of his outspoken belief in democracy. However, Denisenko’s application was denied after the Soviet Union fell.

Urbanski said the Bureau of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has held two things against his client — his failure to obey a voluntary departure notice in 1996 and a 2007 conviction in Albemarle County for possessing a fake driver’s license.

Once Denisenko’s case is reopened in appeals court, Urbanski said he will be eligible for consideration for bond or release.

Denisenko’s attorney plans to ask for a transfer of the case to Arlington, which will make it easier for his client to attend proceedings if he is allowed home. Denisenko also will be eligible for another work permit, which will allow him to be paid once again for his interpreter position at the University of Virginia Medical Center.

If the appeal ends well, Urbanski said, Denisenko will be eligible for a green card. However, it could take up to a year even if the case is transferred to Virginia.

John W. Whitehead, founder of The Rutherford Institute based in Charlottesville, said people have responded to media coverage of the Denisenko case. The founder of the human rights and civil liberties organization said both U.S. Sen. John Warner’s and U.S. Sen. Jim Webb’s offices have been made aware of the situation through letters supporting Denisenko.

“I’ve been in this area of constitutional law for 30 years,” Whitehead said. “It’s tough to get [the government] to move, but we got them to move. … My message is don’t stop. Keep up the pressure.”

Melinda Denisenko credits her husband’s good news to prayer.

“It’s a God thing,” she said. “I think prayers were just being answered, that hearts were being compelled to take a second look at this.”