Turning the pages back... March 16, 1997 (03/14/99)

Turning the pages back...

March 16, 1997

Two years ago The Ukrainian Weekly reported that the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service had denied a visa extension to Vova Malofienko, then 12, and his family. Vova has been in the U.S. for several years receiving treatment for leukemia, probably related to his exposure as a toddler to Chornobyl's deadly fallout. In 1996, at the invitation of First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, Vova was the child who spoke at the White House ceremony commemorating the 10th anniversary of the Chornobyl disaster.

If an emergency extension was not granted, the Malofienkos would have had to return to Chernihiv, Ukraine, on April 10, 1997. Sen. Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey sought an extension of the departure date based on humanitarian grounds, and on March 13, 1997, the INS granted Vova and his parents, Olga and Alexander, a last-minute extension. In December of that year, Sen. Lautenberg and New Jersey Reps. Steven Rothman and Bob Franks introduced a resolution in the House and the Senate to admit the Malofienkos for permanent residency in the U.S.

Writing on March 16, 1997, Irene Jarosewich reported that the Malofienko family's struggle with the visa extension began in 1996. Though the Tetley Tea Co. had agreed to sponsor Vova's father for a work permit, both the Department of Labor and the INS had turned down the family's appeals. Much of the delay and the denials in the process were the result of a new immigration law that makes it difficult for non-citizens to remain in the U.S.

Now, two years later, Sen. Lautenberg, Sen. Robert Torricelli and Rep. Rothman are continuing their attempts to gain U.S. residency for the Malofienkos; the legislators have introduced bills on the case in their respective Houses of Congress. On March 4 the Immigration Subcommittee of the House Judiciary Committee passed the bill, paving the way for it to be considered by the full Judiciary Committee and the House.

Source: "Rothman works to keep boy with cancer from deing deported," news release from Rep. Steve Rothman (D-N.J.), March 4, 1999 ; "U.S. visa extension denied to family of child of Chornobyl" by Irene Jarosewich, The Ukrainian Weekly, March 16, 1997, Vol. LXV, No. 11.

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