‘I escaped one gulag only to end up in another’: Russian asylum seekers face Ice detention in the US

Exiles fleeing Putin's repression in Russia and other post-Soviet states find a harsh welcome when arriving stateside

For most of the four years of Joe Biden was in office, citizens of Russia and other post-Soviet states seeking asylum in the US were generally released into the country while they awaited hearings on their claim in immigration court.

But since last summer, many have been detained upon entering the US, and some of them have been held for more than a year, lawyers, activists and detainees say. Some children have been separated from their parents.