Walter Polovchak
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Walter Polovchak (born 3 October 1967) is a
Ukrainian-American Ukrainian Americans are Americans who are of full or partial Ukrainians, Ukrainian ancestry. According to U.S. census estimates, in 2021 there were 1,017,586 Americans of Ukrainian descent representing 0.3% of the American population. The Ukr ...
man who, as a child, became the center of the legal case '' Polovchak v. Meese'' after he refused, at 12, to leave the
United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
to return to
Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...
, then part of the
USSR The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
, with his parents.


Background

The Polovchak family consisted of parents Michael and Anna and their three children, who came to the
United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
from
Soviet Ukraine The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, abbreviated as the Ukrainian SSR, UkrSSR, and also known as Soviet Ukraine or just Ukraine, was one of the constituent republics of the Soviet Union from 1922 until 1991. Under the Soviet one-party m ...
in January 1980 and settled in
Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...
. Later that year, the parents decided to move back to the USSR, but the two elder children, Nataly, 17, and Walter, 12, disagreed. On July 13, 1980, both left their parents' Chicago home to stay with a cousin in the same city.774 F.2d 731, Anna POLOVCHAK and Michael Polovchak, Plaintiffs-Appellees, v. Edwin MEESE, III, United States Attorney General, and Michael Landon, District Director of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, Defendants-Appellants, Walter Polovchak, Intervening-Appellant
Nos. 85-2297, 85-2305. United States Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit. Argued Sept. 9, 1985. Decided Sept. 10, 1985. Opinion Oct. 9, 1985.
The parents sought the assistance of the police to get their children back, but upon the advice of the
US Immigration and Naturalization Service The United States Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) was a United States federal government agency under the United States Department of Labor from 1933 to 1940 and under the United States Department of Justice from 1940 to 2003. Refe ...
(INS) and of the
US State Department The United States Department of State (DOS), or simply the State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs o ...
, the police decided not to return the children to their parents but instead to start custody proceedings in an Illinois court.


Asylum application

On July 19, 1980, Walter, with the help of his lawyer, filed an application for
asylum Asylum may refer to: Types of asylum * Asylum (antiquity), places of refuge in ancient Greece and Rome * Benevolent asylum, a 19th-century Australian institution for housing the destitute * Cities of Refuge, places of refuge in ancient Judea * ...
with the INS, on the grounds of potentially being disadvantaged and persecuted in the USSR for being a defector. The application was granted, and in October 1981, he was able to adjust his legal status to that of a lawful permanent resident.


Court case

The case became a
Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...
''
cause célèbre A ( , ; pl. ''causes célèbres'', pronounced like the singular) is an issue or incident arousing widespread controversy, outside campaigning, and heated public debate. The term is sometimes used positively for celebrated legal cases for th ...
'' after the INS allowed Polovchak to stay against his parents' will, even as they pursued legal means to retake custody of their son. While Walter and Nataly lived apart from their parents during the dispute, the sympathetic
Reagan administration Ronald Reagan's tenure as the 40th president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 1981, and ended on January 20, 1989. Reagan, a Republican from California, took office following his landslide victory over ...
helped to drag out court proceedings until Walter turned 18 and was no longer a minor. The case has similarities to that of
Elián González Elián González Brotons (born December 6, 1993) is a Cuban engineer and politician. As a six-year-old child, he was at the center of a high-profile international custody dispute between family members and involving Cuba and the United States. ...
.


Aftermath

Since becoming a US citizen in 1985, Walter visits the now-independent Ukraine every other year and has re-established relations with his parents. He now lives in the Chicago suburb of
Des Plaines Des Plaines () is a city in Cook County, Illinois, United States. Per the 2020 census, the population was 60,675. The city is a suburb of Chicago and is located just north of O'Hare International Airport. It is situated on and is named after t ...
, is married, and has two sons. In March 2022, he spoke his opinions about the
Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...
, saying “Russia is mercilessly killing Ukrainian children and families, destroying neighbourhoods, opera houses, churches and anything they can basically hit, It's very shocking but not surprising. The Russian government and
Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who has served as President of Russia since 2012, having previously served from 2000 to 2008. Putin also served as Prime Minister of Ru ...
are thugs. They cannot be trusted, they consistently lie about everything - it's nothing but lies and propaganda." Walter also said that hearing about the war breaking out was “really disheartening” but that it wasn't surprising because “war criminal Putin has set in his mind that he wants to recreate the former Soviet Union."https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/walter-polovchak-soviet-defector-ukraine-russia-b2043993.html


See also

*
Elian Gonzalez affair Elian or Elián (Spanish) or Élian (French) can refer to: People * Saint Elian (Syria) (died 284) ** Church of Saint Elian (Arabic: كنيسة مار اليان, Kaneesat Mar Elian) is a church in Homs, Syria ** Monastery of St. Elian a Syriac Ca ...
– a 1999 Cuban child asylum case


References


Sources

* Shipp ER. Soviet boy to be a "free man" today. ''
New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'', October 3, 1985, Section A, Page 18, Column 1.


External links


CBS News story
{{DEFAULTSORT:Polovchak, Walter 1967 births Living people 20th-century Ukrainian people People from Chicago Soviet defectors to the United States