Youngstown businessman deported Monday night with little notice
Youngstown businessman deported Monday night with little notice
This story has been corrected to show that Adi will be deported tonight, not tomorrow morning.
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (WYTV) – By 11 p.m. Monday, Youngstown businessman Amer “Al” Adi was on a plane headed to his native country of Jordan.
According to his family, the flight took off at 10:45 p.m. ET from Chicago.
Adi was moved from Youngstown Monday morning and his family only found out about 8 p.m. that he was being deported. He had time to say a quick goodbye on the phone.
“I’m shocked that we’re standing here once again, telling you, ‘Oh, we found out he’s actually in Chicago,’” said Adi’s daughter, Lina Adi.
Adi’s wife, Fidda Musleh, said she spent the day worrying. Her husband called every morning from the Northeast Ohio Correctional Center in Youngstown, where he was being held.
“Waited and no call,” she said. “I assumed something was wrong. I called the lawyer, he didn’t know anything.”
Meanwhile, Adi was taken to the airport and flown from Youngstown to Chicago.
“I’m a little relieved to know that he’s not in prison but I’m sad that this was such a cruel, inhumane way they did it,” Fidda said.
While in jail, Adi was on a hunger strike, vowing not to eat until he was released.
“I know we’re supposed to be happy, I know we’re supposed to feel some kind of relief, but I’m ashamed to be part of this country, I am,” Lina said. “This is just wrong. From day one until now, this is wrong.”
Last week, Adi’s family called Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) “corrupt.” They said the government was treating Adi like a criminal even though he’d never been convicted of a crime.
The family is regrouping. Their father, husband and friend is gone.
“We’re going to take it one day at a time. I have a business to run, I have children to take care of. I gotta figure this out,” Fidda said.
Adi left his family with a message to everyone who has supported him in the last few weeks.
“He wanted to thank everybody for supporting him, and standing by him and believing in him,” Fidda said.
“We’re still going to continue the fight. This is just the beginning. This is just the beginning for everybody,” Lina said.
On Tuesday, the entire family will go to an immigration rally at 5:30 p.m. in Cleveland at Market Square (at the corner of W. 25th St. and Lorain Ave.). Fidda said they’ll call Adi on the phone during the rally.
As to whether they’ll see a day when Adi is back in the United States, the family said they don’t know.
Congressman Tim Ryan, who fought for Adi to stay in the U.S., released the following statement Monday night:
Officials with ICE arrested Adi on January 16 when he showed up for a hearing on his immigration status. He was scheduled to be deported and had been planned to leave for his native country of Jordan, but ICE granted a temporary stay.
Adi is the owner of the Downtown Circle Convenience Store and Deli and has been in the United States for 39 years. Immigration officials determined that his marriage to a woman in 1980 was a “sham” based on a signed affidavit from the woman saying she married Adi to help him stay in the U.S., according to court documents. The woman later recanted her statement.
Court records also indicate that Adi abandoned his lawful permanent residence status, which was granted during his marriage to his first wife, by moving to Brazil with his current wife in 1988 and remaining outside of the U.S. until they returned in 1992. Two years after their return, his wife filed the first of three unsuccessful I-130 petitions for permanent residence status on Adi’s behalf.
Source :- wytv.com