“We have never asked for support, we always managed on our own. But now, without help and solidarity, the consequences could be fatal for our family – up to deportation to Belarus and criminal prosecution.”
Maryia Rudnik openly spoke out against election fraud and state violence in 2020. She became an activist and one of the organisers of the protests in Mazyr, led women’s marches and participated in coordinating local self-organisation. On 15 August 2020, Maryia addressed thousands of residents, read out a collective statement and called Alyaksandr Lukashenka a usurper. Just a few months later, the family was forced to flee Belarus to avoid criminal prosecution that threatened not only her but also her children.
“In Belarus you go to prison for this. Women often have their children taken away, and I have five of them,” Maryia says. “As a mother, I had no right to take that risk.”
In February 2021 the family left Belarus through the forest, taking only the essentials. They first settled in Turkey, then in Ukraine. But after the war began, extending their residence permit became impossible, and obtaining a visa to Europe was unreachable. So the family decided to seek asylum in the United States.
“We sold everything we could,” Maryia recalls. “We lived for two weeks in a church shelter in Mexico and then crossed the border.”
In the US the family faced a long bureaucratic process. For a year and a half, they had no work permit. Maryia and her husband worked wherever they could, supporting a small online project at the same time. To speed up the asylum case, they moved to another state, found an experienced attorney and began paying his fee in instalments.
Right before the hearing, they received a bill for $4,000 for translating 1,250 pages of documents required for the case. “We were confident about a positive decision,” Maryia says. “We had all the evidence: summons from the police, investigative materials, proof of security-service visits to my mother.”
But the judge unexpectedly denied asylum, deciding that the evidence was insufficient and that Maryia was not at risk in Belarus. This ruling means forced deportation.
The lawyer immediately filed an appeal, but the cost of legal representation – another $3,000 – is unaffordable for the family. All their resources were already spent preparing for the first court. A hearing date can be set at any moment, and the absence of an attorney would automatically mean losing the appeal – and deportation for all seven family members.
“We never asked for help,” Maryia emphasises. “For years we worked without weekends and handled everything ourselves. But now it’s not just about hardship – it’s about our safety, our legal status, on which everything depends. Without it, an immigrant family is completely vulnerable.”
Maryia’s family urgently needs support to pay for the legal appeal – the only tool that can prevent deportation and protect her five children from being sent back to Belarus.
Fundraising goal
€2700
Covers the cost of legal representation for the appeal.