ICE deports Michigan mom of three without letting her say goodbye to her family

Daily Kos Staff

Friday May 18, 2018 · 10:31 AM PDT

2018/05/18 · 10:31

Screen_Shot_2018-05-18_at_10.16.08_AM.png — Cile Precetaj

On Wednesday, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) acting director Thomas Homan boo-hooed that folks are just being so darn mean about the mass deportation agents that have been tearing families apart, saying, “I’m sick and tired of the constant vilification of these men and women … when you have a congressman who said, quote, ‘the cowardly acts of ICE officers ... that terrorize innocent immigrant communities.’ ICE does more protect the immigrant community than any politician ever has done.”

The next day, at 4 AM, Michigan dad Pete Gojcaj found out that his wife, an undocumented immigrant who had been in detention for nearly a month after being arrested at an ICE check-in, had been deported to Albania. Cile Precetaj, who had no criminal record, had lived in the United States for nearly two decades, and is the mom of three young U.S. citizen children, was not allowed to say goodbye to her family:

“My kids are devastated. They can’t stop crying,” Pete Gojcaj told the Free Press Thursday morning. “My children are traumatized. ...

"They got on the bus crying," he said, noting he sent them to school to keep things as normal as possible. "They said, 'This is not the government they teach us about in school.' "

ICE spokesman Khallid Walls said Thursday that the family was notified "several days in advance of her impending departure" and that they turned in her luggage and other personal belongings.

But ICE lies, and all the time. They lie about raids, they lie about Dreamers being gang members, and they probably lied to this family. “The family maintains they were never given a deportation date … all that happened, the husband said, was 10 days ago he got a call from ICE telling him to pack his wife's suitcase and bring it to Detroit's ICE headquarters.” So, they did as they were told—“his children helped pack the suitcase,” the Free Press tragically notes—and kept waiting. “On 4 a.m. Thursday, the phone call from Germany cleared up any confusion. Mom was gone.”

Preceta was nearly deported in 2014, but was allowed to stay with her family so long as she continued checking in regularly with ICE. But since Donald Trump’s inauguration, “silent raids”—incidents where undocumented immigrants who, after years of regularly checking in with ICE are suddenly getting cuffed, detained, and deported after their meetings with immigration officials—have been rampant. On April 26, Preceta became the latest victim of this cruelty:

Gojcaj would eventually learn from his wife that five ICE agents picked her up at the Calhoun County jail on Wednesday, shackled her and took her to Detroit to prepare her for removal from the U.S. Two ICE agents, he said, went with her. His wife told him that the ICE agents warned her not to make a fuss or they would put her in restraints.

The family is in shock, and reeling.

Cile Precetaj, an Albanian immigrant, was one of more than a dozen mothers locked up at the Calhoun County jail awaiting deportation. All have American-born children.

Her three children, ages 8, 10, and 16, live with their father, Pete, a Yugoslavian immigrant who has lived in the U.S. for 30 years and owns a restaurant.

Last month, the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals denied her stay, though, according to the Free Press, she had another appeal pending at the time of her deportation. The Free Press also notes that “in Precetaj's application for asylum”—which he had been fighting for since 2000—“she claimed that she feared for her life in Albania and that her family was constantly threatened by criminal groups that sought to kidnap her and make her a prostitute. She also has expressed fears about an abusive fianceé she left in Albania.”

Precetaj was deported anyway, without so much as the chance to say goodbye, and threatened with restraints if she made “a fuss.” This is state-sanctioned terror, but remember, these are the same agents that are, according to mass deportation architect Homan, keeping innocent immigrant communities safe. Precetaj should not have been a priority for deportation in any way, she should never have been torn from her kids, and the fact that ICE swept her out in silence says volumes.

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