They left Ukraine on March, 1998, to escape governmental persecution and beatings for their charity work. When they showed up in New York on March 1999, Galushka and Odnovyun requested asylum. Immigration officers detained them in Queens Wackenhut Corrections Corp., a private prison under the INS. A 2001 U.S. State Department report on human rights in Ukraine spoke of violence and discrimination against women and children, as well as deadly beatings by police and prison officials. In 2001, the government transferred the two men to the York County Prison. An immigration judge granted both men humanitarian parole in August 2002, while they awaited a final decision on their cases. They found refuge at the International Friendship House, a York shelter for asylum seekers. June 17, 2003 for a hearing, expecting to be granted asylum. The judge granted their request against deportation to Ukraine. But the judge denied their appeal for asylum, revoked their parole and ordered them deported to another country. ICE stepped up to return them to Wackenhut, where they remain today.