Feds bring woman to U.S. to face charges, then say she's here illegally [View all]

[Zorro]

The administration’s moves, in the case of a Belarusian woman accused of smuggling aviation equipment into Russia, are the latest to spark confusion in court.

Federal prosecutors spent over a year working to extradite a Belarusian woman accused of smuggling more than $2 million in sensitive U.S. aviation equipment into Russia as it waged war on Ukraine.

But the case could fall apart because the defendant, Yana Leonova, is now at risk of being deported before going to trial.

Trump administration officials issued an immigration detainer for Leonova shortly after she was paroled into the United States on Nov. 3 to face a 10-count indictment charging her with fraud, smuggling and money-laundering offenses. The unexpected move has left the prosecution and defense scrambling to find out whether Leonova will continue to face the raft of felony charges or be put on a flight home.

A federal magistrate judge called the situation “Kafkaesque” at a hearing in U.S. District Court in D.C. on Monday, and said in a written order that Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s push to increase deportations on orders from President Donald Trump appeared to be wreaking havoc on a complex international prosecution that had been tied up for a year in extradition proceedings.

https://wapo.st/4pZyiCQ