Leonid Melekhin, a political activist from Perm, Russia, applied for asylum in the United States in August 2024. In December, his application was rejected due to a lack of “well-founded fear or clear probability of future persecution,” despite him having been detained multiple times in Russia for actions including holding a single-person picket to call for the release of Alexei Navalny from prison. Melekhin’s activism was well documented in Russian media. In early 2025, he discovered that criminal charges had been filed against him in his home country. Despite this, he lost his appeal at the immigration court and was deported back to Russia, where he was promptly arrested for “justifying terrorism.” Melekhin’s case is a clear example of the failure of the US asylum system, which was designed precisely to prevent this kind of outcome. Nor is it an isolated incident: in January 2025, Yevgeny Mashinin was deported to Russia despite his history of arrests at opposition rallies and a European Court of Human Rights ruling that confirmed his unlawful persecution. Upon his return to Russia, Mashinin was immediately faced with new administrative charges and spent some time under arrest. However, he managed to escape before a criminal case was opened against him. He is currently in Morocco.

Unfortunately, there will be more cases like those of Melekhin and Mashinin. In the summer of 2025, the US began mass deportations of Russian asylum seekers who had lost their court cases. This year saw a crucial change in the........

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