Northern California asylum-seeker detained by ICE released on bond
A San Francisco Bay Area woman and Russian immigrant who is seeking political asylum was released on bond Friday after being detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement last month.
Alevtina Soboleva, 59, was traveling with her adult daughter in New York state on July 20 and was detained by ICE agents at Buffalo Niagara International Airport before boarding a flight to San Francisco. Daria Soboleva said her mother was taken to a jail in Ohio before being transferred to the South Louisiana ICE processing center.
On Wednesday, she appeared before an immigration judge, who set Alevtina Soboleva's bond to $10,000, according to a family spokesperson, but the U.S. Department of Homeland Security retained its right to appeal. Daria Soboleva was also in Louisiana this week, meeting with her mother's legal team ahead of the bond hearing.
On Friday morning, after DHS failed to appeal the decision, Alevtina posted bond in Louisiana, the spokesperson said. She and her daughter will return to the Bay Area on Sunday.
"I can confirm that after a stressful month, the mother and daughter are reunited," family spokesperson Danni McInnis said Friday.
Soboleva fled Russia in 2021 shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine and came to live with her daughter in Sunnyvale, about 45 miles south of San Francisco. She filed for political asylum shortly before her visitor visa expired. Daria Soboleva said there was no indication there was an issue with her asylum claim when the two went to visit Niagara Falls last month.
"My mom always wanted to see Niagara Falls," Daria Soboleva said last month. "That was her childhood dream, so we were coming back from that trip to San Francisco. We did go through the TSA check. We did go through the security. Nothing was alarming, everything was fine. She does have all the proper documents to travel domestically. She has California driver license with REAL ID."
An immigration expert said that while Soboleva's mother's visa had expired, she has a valid asylum claim.
"It is true that apparently, she overstayed her visitor visa. So, she's out of status in that sense, but she filed a timely asylum application," said Bill Hing, University of San Francisco law and immigration studies professor. "In ordinary circumstances somebody who is an asylum applicant who does not have any criminal problems and is not a danger to the community would not be taken into custody."
ICE did not mention anything about Soboleva's asylum claim in a statement to CBS News Bay Area this week, and disputed claims by her daughter that she was being denied proper medical care and prevented from contacting her family.
"Alevtina Soboleva is an illegal alien from Russia who was admitted to the United States lawfully in 2021 but failed to depart the country in the required time frame," the spokesperson said. "Any allegations of poor medical care and inability to contact family are FALSE."
