German citizen Anna Sorokin was convicted of felony fraud in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, did not have a legitimate source of income, feels no contrition, and has an expired visa. So why the hell would she still have a "case" against deportation?

 

It might surprise some people, but immigrants with a green card can still be deported if they commit certain (actually, a wide variety of) crimes and misdemeanors. One website of a law firm representing lawful residents facing deportation points out that “thousands” of legal residents are deported every year, 10 percent of total deportations. You can be deported for own-use drug possession and/or being an addict, or for “assault” not involving a firearm. You are also subject to deportation for “fraud or deceit in which the loss to the victim or victims exceeds $10,000.”

Fraud on a significantly larger scale is what a Russian-born German citizen named Anna Sorokin was accused of in 2017, here in court recently, probably thinking she’s pulled another successful con-job on dumb Americans:

 

It’s just amazing how most Russians seem to lack moral or ethical principles, and yes, growing up in Russia in a paranoid society through the age of 16 will leave that ingrained in your psyche. We are told that after moving to Germany she “struggled” learning the language, and seemed fascinated with fashion and celebrity publications. She attended an art school in London but dropped out.

Moving to Paris to work for a fashion magazine, Sorokin changed her name to “Anna Delvey”; from here it is clear that she was suffering from narcissistic personality disorder, totally self-absorbed and totally lacking in empathy and concern about how her actions affected her victims. On a fashion trip to New York, Sorokin discovered that there were a lot gullible Americans willing to believe her tales of being a German “heiress” and having millions in a trust fund in a Swiss bank account, and despite being habitually short on cash she lived a relatively lavish lifestyle on the surface, with no apparent source of income (having quit her magazine job) and living off of handouts she promised to repay, passing bad checks in the tens of thousands of dollars, and receiving bank loans based on fraudulent information.

Sorokin was incredibly unmindful of the harm she was doing to others, and like any narcissist (taken to a whole new level), her arrogance and contempt for others was off the charts. She was said to treat service people at the hotels and restaurants she went to with deliberate rudeness and disrespectful comments, and she generally was someone to be avoided. But as mentioned, her snobbish behavior apparently convinced upper-crust American society that her claims to be a rich “heiress” were true, and Americans tend to be easily taken in by “foreigners” who claim to be from the European upper-crust—it makes their own “status” more “legitimate.”

Sorokin was arrested in 2017 during a sting operation, aided by a former friend that Sorokin had previously “borrowed” $62,000 from, and was apparently trying to “borrow” more. She refused a plea deal, and she caused disturbances by refusing to enter the courtroom unless she was provided with “designer” clothes (GQ referred to this as her "last chance" to play "dress-up"). Despite being convicted of fraud, sentenced for 4-12 years and hardly a “model prisoner”—committing 13 prison infractions—this unrepentant individual who asserted after her conviction that "I'd be lying to you and to everyone else and to myself if I said I was sorry for anything,” was released early from prison for "good behavior." That is what "celebrity" does for you.

Her story was turned into a series by Netflix called “Inventing Anna,” and she was stunningly paid $320,000 by Netflix—which just so happened to cover her legal fees and restitution judgment, and leaving a little more for the petty cash box. Sorokin had the gonads to claim that she “didn’t steal from anyone” and had always intended to pay the people she stole money from when she had no legitimate source of income, and she could hardly claim that she knew the Netflix series would be around to pay off her “loans.” Sorokin had been staying one step ahead of the law by paying off one particularly demanding creditor with money she fraudulently obtained from another source, and there was never any indication that this “lifestyle” would have changed if she had not been arrested.

After her release from prison last year, Sorokin was arrested by immigration for visa overstay. Really? Is that all? We are told that this past March she was taken to an airport for a flight back to Germany, but she refused to leave the immigration services office and was taken back into custody. A few days ago a judge released her on “house arrest”; she is apparently paying for this with what she has left from the Netflix money, and after she has spent that, then where she going to get the money? Can’t be from a “GoFundMe” page because she is supposed to be banned from using social media. Her deportation case is still under “appeal”; shouldn’t this be an “open-and-shut case? What is there to “appeal”? Why is she getting special treatment when she doesn’t have a green card and is in the country on an expired visa?

For me, this is an example of how screwed-up the immigration system in this country is. People whine about “Mexicans” who come into country to work on farms to help feed your faces and do other work “real Americans” loath to do, yet they are treated as political pawns by the far-right who label them as “criminals” just for being here, or accuse them of crimes most have not committed. Sure, there are a few people who commit crimes, but it is usually a matter of days before they are deported once they become deportable.

But the reality is that most of those deported have only committed the crime of being here. Anna Sorokin, on the other hand, is a white female “celebrity”—although to be honest I had no idea who she was or ever heard of the “Inventing Anna” series until I read the story about her recent release from prison. No one in the media is asking the question of why she is more “special” than any ordinary “alien” who continues to be in the country illegally. 

Sorokin continues to use a fake surname (even many in the media still do), her visa is expired, she committed a greatly deportable felony, she continues to deny she did anything wrong and feels no shame or contrition, and an immigration judge still thinks she has a “case” after 17 months in ICE custody? You mean the "law" only applies to people with "brown" skin?