The immigration detention center case involving a married couple from Azerbaijan highlights growing concerns about detention practices, court delays, and how immigration policy affects LGBTQ immigrant families.
A married couple from Azerbaijan says the Trump administration is keeping one husband locked in an immigration detention center in Georgia even though both men, one of whom is a legal permanent resident, have agreed to leave the United States immediately. Their case raises questions about why the government is continuing to hold him at all.
Samir Gadirov, 30, says he and his husband have already decided to leave the United States and return to Azerbaijan. “Yes, that’s still the plan, that we are going back to Azerbaijan,” he said. What he cannot understand, he said, is why his husband, Tural Atakishiyev, 40, remains locked up while they wait for the government to allow them to go.
Atakishiyev has been held at Stewart Detention Center since January 14. Gadirov said they are waiting for a judge’s decision so his husband can depart voluntarily. “We are waiting for the judge’s decision on his voluntary departure back to Azerbaijan,” The Advocate told in an interview. “Even the voluntary departure process is taking too long.”
Gadirov said his husband has now been in custody for more than a month, and it’s negatively affected his body and mind.
“I have already lost 25 pounds,” he said. “He can’t eat there. His mental health is not good. So he’s struggling.”
The strain, he said, is not only on his husband.
“He’s inside, but I’m outside, but I’m living the same situation,” Gadirov said. “I’m experiencing the same situation, same feelings.”
