Ridgway – Members of an Armenian family who fought deportation for the past 2 1/2 years with the aid of their Ridgway neighbors have won rare visas and are on the path to citizenship.
“We are euphoric,” said Pete Whiskeman, a Ridgway businessman who spearheaded the $150,000 fundraising effort to help the family in this single-stoplight town of 4,000.
That money – along with an outpouring of community support – paid the legal bills and drew political attention to the plight of the five members of the Sargsyan family.
“I can’t even tell you in words,” Nvart Idinyan Sargsyan said Tuesday. “This is so incredible to finally be on the right side.”
The family ran afoul of immigration laws and had been threatened with deportation since the eldest daughter’s then-husband brought them to the Ridgway area on student visas in 1999. Vaughn Huckfeldt, who the family said had presented himself as a wealthy American minister in their hometown of Yerevan, had allegedly bilked other Armenians by promising to obtain visas for them, the family said.
The family was threatened by those who lost money after Huckfeldt married Nvart, left Armenia and failed to deliver the visas, the Sargsyans said.
The Sargsyans – parents, Susan and Ruben; daughter Meri; and sons Hayk and Gevorg – quickly became valued members of the Ridgway community after they arrived with a single dollar bill and the few possessions they could carry. When Nvart divorced Huckfeldt in 2000, he turned the family in for having improper visas.
The family was then victimized by an immigration attorney who has since been disbarred.
As the family prepared for deportation in 2004, Whiskeman learned of their plight. He began a fund drive that ranged from dollar donations at a bake sale to $15,000 given by an anonymous out-of-state donor.
Ridgway students wrote letters to politicians, and more than 60 community members braved a winter storm in late 2004 to travel to Aurora and rally support when the family was jailed at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center.
The family suffered numerous other setbacks in the fight for legal residency, including the death of Nvart’s second husband, Max Noland, in a construction accident.
Nvart moved to the Fort Collins area last year but said she still considers Ouray County her home. Hayk and Gevorg are attending the University of Colorado. Meri works for a Ridgway bank, and her parents still work odd jobs around the community and are hoping to open an Armenian restaurant.
Nvart plans to apply for citizenship when she is eligible in three years. The other family members will be eligible to apply for permanent residency in a year and for citizenship in five years.
The Sargsyans’ visas, granted on the basis of giving them relief from “human trafficking,” have been issued in only 629 cases since 2001.
Jeff Joseph, the immigration attorney who helped obtain the Sargsyans’ visas, said he has never handled another immigration case where the federal government threw up so many roadblocks.
“It’s been a long battle,” he said.
Staff writer Nancy Lofholm can be reached at 970-256-1957 or nlofholm@denverpost.com.
