A Kent couple who claimed to be experts in immigration cases advised clients to falsely claim to be gay and subject to persecution or even death if they returned home so they could win asylum in the U.S., according to a federal indictment unsealed Tuesday.
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In one instance, involving an individual identified only as A.K., Steven Mahoney is alleged to have advised him to say on immigration applications that he was gay and that the militia in his country had attempted to rape his wife because of it, according to the indictment. Helena Mahoney allegedly helped the man obtain "documents about the gay community to assist A.K. in preparing for his asylum interview," the indictment alleges.
Another immigrant, identified as G.V., reportedly submitted documents to the immigration officials claiming that he was afraid he would be maimed if he returned to his homeland "when in truth ... G.V. was not afraid of such maiming," according to the indictment [source: Alleged advice to asylum seekers: Tell feds you're gay]
I dated EP, a Russian immigrant for about 5 months. I remember her trying desperately to find an "expert witness" who would provide her with documents that illustrated how horrible it was to be a homosexual in Russia. She said, "People do it all the time. They just lie and the judge never questions it. How can they prove otherwise?" After learning that several of EP's Russian friends had manipulated Americans into marrying them so they could get citizenship (then walked out on them the day the ink dried on their green card), I decided I didn't ever want to see EP again. You are who you associate with.
What I found most interesting during my time with EP was her overwhelming hatred of almost all things American. When I asked her why she wanted to be in this country (since she appeared to hate it so much), she said she'd been here so long it had become her home. I'm guessing that even the worst things about the USA are still better than the best things about Russia.
