Hope running out for return of deported piano teacher

The Russian emigre piano teacher who was deported from the Bay Area last year has virtually no chance of re-entering the United States to join her family, but she doesn't know that.

Yana Slobodova's appeal to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security was denied last month on the basis that her deportation is causing no more hardship to her family than the usual stress associated with the removal of a family member.

Calling the decision "outrageous," attorney Marc Van Der Hout of San Francisco vowed to keep working on the case pro bono. "The decision displays a remarkable lack of appreciation of the needs of families to be together," he said.

While he will file another motion to bring his client back on a humanitarian basis, Van Der Hout said that "we're almost at the end of the rope here. It'll take a minor miracle to get her back."

Slobodova is living in a rundown two-bedroom apartment in St. Petersburg with no heat in the stairwell, her husband, Alexander Makarchuk, said this week.

She suffers from depression, and he doesn't want to upset her further by telling her that her latest appeal to re-enter the United States has been denied.

"If I tell her, I know it will be horrible for her," he said. "She'll crack up."

The last year has been one of extreme hardship to Slobodova and her family. Their nightmare began in January 2004, when Slobodova was taken into custody at what was supposed to be a routine appointment with immigration officials. Slobodova initially entered the United States illegally in 1995 when she was in her early 20s, helped by a former boyfriend who deceived her and sold her false papers. Since then, she met and married a naturalized U.S. citizen, and they had a son. She became a well-respected piano teacher in Mountain View.

Despite the Jewish community's rallying to her support — especially the Bay Area Council for Jewish Rescue and Renewal and Hebrew Free Loan Association — she was deported on March 1, 2004.

Soon after, her parents, who were living in San Mateo, moved back to New Jersey, because without their daughter's financial help they could not afford to stay in California. Though they were eligible to become citizens, their extended visits with their daughter in Russia have adversely affected their status with U.S. immigration officials, delaying citizenship efforts.

Slobodova and Makarchuk now have two children, both living with their mother: Nikita, who is almost 3, and Paulina, born in December. Nikita does not remember the United States.

Paulina is mostly healthy, but she suffers some minor problems in her joints, which Makarchuk contends was probably caused by the stress her mother endured throughout her pregnancy.

He is temporarily in the Bay Area, recovering from spinal surgery that he underwent on Feb. 8. Makarchuk has spent the last year traveling back and forth between the United States and Russia, but he is unable to work. He has been staying mostly with his mother in Florida and has been surviving on the worker's compensation payments due to his back injury. He cannot stay in Russia without giving up his U.S. citizenship, something he refuses to consider.

Most recently, he has been trying to obtain U.S. citizenship for his infant daughter. However, he said he has received the run-around from the American Embassy in Russia.

Makarchuk refused to speculate on life for himself and his wife elsewhere — or without each other — even though, at least for now, the March 7 decision seems irreversible.

"I'm just wondering what's going to happen next," he said.

While Van Der Hout said he will also appeal to elected officials who have been supportive in the past, especially Rep. Tom Lantos (D-San Mateo), he is not optimistic.

A spokeswoman for Lantos said the congressman had been notified of the denial and would remain interested and available to help if needed.