America is not
what I’ve seen when I was deported.
When Trump won, my husband looked at me, he says,
”I’m done."
It was mean spirited, and it’s a result of the
frankly racist,
Make America White Again policies coming out of the White House.
If he’s not a true American, then I don’t think anyone is.
The United States of America always talks about human rights
what I’ve seen from ICE is
absolutely the opposite.
I started living the American dream
40 years ago.
I could not believe that a dream like that could really be taken away from you.
As a young man in America meant
a lot because I wanted to live the American dream.
I wanted to live the dream of the future,
I wanted to build my future.
Love at first sight, I didn’t think it was possible.
But when I met him, he was gentle, very kind,
passionate person.
And it just happened, it just happened.
I know it’s been really hard on her, to not see him for a whole month
Like, I know it’s killing her and everyday he calls me, he’s like,
’when are you coming, when are you coming?'
My husband was always optimistic and he would say, ‘let’s do this,'
whatever project—and I’m like 'no!'
Don’t want to deport you.
And he would say, ‘you can’t think like that,
’you can’t think, you have to just do the stuff and don’t think that we’re going anywhere, you know?'
My parents never had any history with any businesses they’ve ever opened.
So they just jumped into every single business
they ever decided to do together
and they were always just
I don’t know if it was them, and they were always just good at it,
or they just like figured it out—
my dad’s always been good at everything
and my mom’s just always been there to help.
I’ve had 50-60 people working at the same time,
but over the years, I’ve had hundreds of people
From the grocery store to the gas stations to downtown circle,
Anybody and everybody could tell you, with him not here, there’s going to be a big change.
He is probably the kindest soul you’ll ever meet.
You know, everybody felt like he was their own father too, including myself.
To build such a business, it has to be from the people to the people.
Of course you’re there to make profit, of course you’re there to make your living,
but it’s also a joy for me to start relationships with people.
It was a great feeling to know that I would participate in building families and
supporting home—whole economy in Youngstown.
I still look at that door, and I don’t see him.
That’s what I miss.
Sorry.
Never thought for once, maybe stop because I’m going to get deported.
So that’s why we kept going—he kept it going.
He kept it going.
President-elect of the United States of America, Donald Trump.
Actually, we were watching the elections
when Trump won, my husband looked at me, he says,
”I’m done."
He said “I’m done."
We knew it was over.
He had a valid work permit, he was paying taxes.
They asked me to bring a ticket to prove that I’m leaving on the 7th of January.
So I came back within 30 days, with a ticket.
On the 4th of January, I received a phone call from ICE.
Where they told me that my trip to Jordan on the 7th was
not necessary, so “you don’t have to leave."
We went from a goodbye party—and everybody was coming to say goodbye because we were leaving,
we changed it to a victory party.
He’s a good man and good things happen to good people
and I think we said this morning, we’re
running the two minute drill here and we’re going to throw a hail mary
and every now and again, you win one, right?
It was too good to be true.
The part after that, which is very cruel and inhumane
and you wouldn’t think the United States government would do anything like that.
It’s above imagination—what they did.
They told me, “come to our office on the 16th, we will meet and we’ll discuss what we’re going to do
”with the whole situation."
And our biggest worry that morning was that they would say,
”you know what, we are going to set another date, we want you to leave in 2-3 weeks."
They ambushed him.
Deceived him, tricked him, I don’t know, whatever you want to call it.
So we went into the backroom,
door locks behind us,
he sits down, the ICE officer, in his chair
and says, “look, I’m not going to beat around the bush, I’m taking you into custody."
I just opened the door and I ran out.
I ran out to the U.S. congressman, I said, "please help me, they're about to take my husband into custody.
"I don’t know why,
we had our tickets, we were leaving, why are they doing this?"
A subcommittee of the house judiciary committee
passed out a bill that asks the Department of Homeland Security to
review Amer’s case
and that should lead to him not getting deported and it should lead to
him—hopefully soon, getting out of jail.
It’s been an emotional rollercoaster
to be completely honest.
One day we’re happy, one day we’re sad, one day we’re angry...
That was the first time in the history of private bills
that the immigration and customs enforcement
or the proceeding organization "INS"
said, "No.”
After a report had been requested by a committee and after they had requested his stay.
We’re in new territory here.
We’re all nervous, we don’t know how he’s going to look, we don’t know if he’s sick,
if he’s healthy.
I always worry about him, he lost a lot of weight when I did get to see him after a week,
he lost a lot of weight.
But he was strong mentally.
They opened the door to the hallway for us to go in, and it’s this community room.
And there’s all these people with their families, sitting at tables.
And for a second, there was a little bit of hope, like “okay, we’re going to get to see him,
”we’re going to get to hug him, we’re going to get to tell him 'it's okay'"
And then they open the side door and they’re like “oh, this is where you guys go."
And we walk into the side door, and he’s behind the glass.
And he’s in a cage and it was awful.
I waited, I usually get a cup of coffee and I sit and I wait for him to call me—he didn’t call.
I waited until 10, 11 o'clock, and then I called the attorney.
I said,
"he didn’t call me today" I said, “something’s wrong."
He says, “well, give me an hour, I’m going to call the facility and see, or I’m going to call ICE."
He calls me back after an hour, and he says,
”they can’t confirm whether he’s there, or if he’s gone.”
So automatically, I panic.
10 minutes later, the officer calls and says, “we have Amer right here, do you want to speak to him?”
I said, "of course"
At that moment, he spoke and he says, “I’m—they’re going to put me on a plane to Amman[,Jordan]”
In the next half an hour.
He was treated like an animal.
Locked up in a cell,
and they threw away the key, and they wouldn’t listen to anybody.
We were leaving. They should've just left it January 7th
and he would’ve been able to say goodbye to the girls
and to the community and everybody that loves him.
These are still humans—if you don’t want them in the country, let them go back to where they came from.
But don’t treat them like they’re, they’re animals.
You know, we’ve seen other dark periods,
but this is different.
Now what we have is an agency that’s been told
"go rogue."
”be cowboys.”
”treat these people like cattle."
”they have no value."
I cannot understand and I cannot imagine that somebody would carry such a hate
in their hearts, such a feeling where you take that decision to destroy the family,
to destroy everything, and to destroy the dreams of somebody who had lived
for 40 years building that dream.
It’s not just happening with my family, it’s happening all over the country.
And there’s many families being ripped apart.
They don't care, they don’t care.
Why would you want to humiliate me?
Everything was set up for me to leave, why?
Perhaps the most insidious thing about this case is that the reason Amer was deported
was because some ICE bureaucrat somewhere made a determination
that that marriage to Lina Adi
was somehow a marriage of convenience, not a real marriage.
That that determination of marriage fraud was not made by an immigration judge,
it was not made in an open court room.
Amer did not have the chance to confront his accuser
to test the evidence.
To cross-examine witnesses, to bring witnesses of his own.
And there were—there are many witnesses who would testify to the fact that that marriage was a good marriage.
Including his ex-wife.
It's been almost two weeks.
I feel, of course, saddened by the fact that I was deported
and at the same time I feel
happy that I’m free.
I feel great that I’ve seen my mother, which I have not seen in over two decades.
I feel great that I’ve seen my brothers and my sisters and my immediate families here in Jordan.
At the same time, I feel sad I had to leave the way I left.
I’ve left my wife over there, I’ve left my daughters over there, I’ve left my businesses over there,
I left my friends, my community, my Youngstown,
my hometown.
I’ve lived in Youngstown and the United States more than any other time in any part of this world.
Therefore it’s my town, it’s my city.
What was your thought process like?
I didn’t think. There was nothing for me to think about, you know, it’s not the place.
It’s the person.
You want to be with the person that you love.
And that’s one person I do love.
I would go to the moon for.
I get to see you tomorrow.
I know. I can’t wait.
What’s that choice like—being close to Amer or being close to your daughters?
It’s uh...
It’s ripping a family apart.
Not being able to see my daughters is…
Do you know when you’ll be back?
No, I’m going to go and take it one day at a time, but I eventually will come back and check on the girls and the business.
It’s Amer's legacy and we got to keep it going.
We bring ya’ll back here.
You need a vacation anyway.
As you head towards him, what is it that you want to say to him? What do you want him to hear right now?
That I’m coming.
Don’t worry about nothing, everything is taken care of here.
And I’ll be there in less than 24 hours.
And that’s it.
For the first time in a long time, I woke up this morning and I reached out and she was right by me.
Absolutely fantastic feeling.
This is our house—well, our old house, we don’t live here anymore.
You know, It’s just I guess a part of life.
Like we aren’t ever going to come back here, no matter what happens, it’s not ours anymore.
You know, to call it our home.
This is this building he found
at an auction—it's crazy.
Because he had so many ideas for this place.
But he’s not going to be able to be here to see anything
be put to life.
He built a legacy here.
I think that this is way more important to me and to my family, so
for now, this is where I want to be.
Hate is not a way to live.
Hate is not something that should be in anybody's dictionary, actually.
Hate is something that is hateful.
Therefore, for somebody to carry such a thing, they have a problem.
Whoever took that decision has a problem and that’s why I pray for them.
America is not what I’ve seen.
I love America, I love the American people, I love the dreams that I’ve always had.
I love when I started my dream 40 years ago,
but I don’t think that America is what this administration and Trump represents.
America is way better.
I would tell anybody that is going through what I’ve gone through,
don’t quit, it’s an important battle.