Abramian Allowed To Stay in U.S.

A former Harvard security guard who won a multimillion dollar jury judgment against Harvard will remain in the country, pending an appeal of a court order that would have required him to leave the U.S. this month.

A ruling last month ordered Viatcheslav "Steve" Abramian to leave the country by Sept. 1 and denied his request for permanent residency in the U.S.

But a last minute appeal by Abramian's immigration attorney allowed him to remain in the country.

The deportation ruling might have made it difficult for Abramian to collect the damages a jury awarded him against Harvard in a civil suit.

Abramian sued Harvard alleging he was fired from his job as a University security guard in 1993 for complaining about anti-Russian slurs by co-workers. A jury decision awarded him over $1.2 million in compensatory and punitive damages on the two claims, but a portion of the case will soon be retried after a Harvard appeal.

Abramian, a Russian immigrant, applied for political asylum several years ago and was denied. But his case had not gone through the appeals process before a change in immigration law forced it back to a lower court.

Last month, Abramian's case came before federal immigration Judge Patricia Sheppard.

According to Daniel Cashman, Abramian's immigration attorney, Abramian had to prove he previously applied for asylum, had good moral character and that he would suffer hardship if he returned to his native country.

Abramian had written character references from several professors at Northeastern University, where he has worked as a security guard since 1998 and recently completed his masters degree in political science.

Former Massachusetts Gov. Michael S. Dukakis, who is now a professor at Northeastern, was among those writing letters.

"I have no doubt he is, and will continue to be, a responsible member of our community," Dukakis wrote in a letter obtained by the Boston Herald.

But Sheppard ruled that Abramian would not suffer persecution if he returned to Russia.

Abramian's case will now go before the U.S. Department of Justice's Board of Immigration Appeals.

Rick Kenney, a spokesperson for the Executive Office for Immigration Review said that most cases take several years before they are reviewed, but that decisions are usually not overturned.

"If the original court crossed it's t's and dotted all the i's, there usually is no grounds for overturning a decision," Kenney said. "But it's all on a case-by-case basis."

This summer, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court upheld a jury decision that found Harvard fired Abramian in retaliation for his complaints about discrimination. But the court ordered a retrial on Abramian's claim that Harvard discriminated against him, finding that the judge issued incorrect jury instructions in the original trial.

While Abramian remains in the country, Jonathan J. Barter, his attorney, will continue as planned with the retrial of the discrimination suit against Harvard, Barter said.