Family reunions should be joyous occasions. A son seeing his mother for the first time in decades should be a joyous occasion. Reunions should be by choice. But for Amer "Al” Adi Othman, his reunion was bittersweet, at best. The Ohio dad, husband and businessman was the center of a deportation case that earned national attention for Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) senselessness and cruelty. Despite the support of his community and a rare legislative move from Congressman Tim Ryan that should have halted his immediate deportation, Othman was kicked out after decades in the U.S. and no criminal record. ICE officials barely gave him time to say good-bye to his family over the phone:
With nothing but the clothes on his back and less than $300 in his pocket, Amer Adi was put on a plane and deported to Jordan, the country he left 39 years ago to pursue his American dream.
His 94-year-old mother sat in a wheelchair at the arrivals gate, overcome with emotion as she waited for Adi. She hadn't seen him in 20 years.
As he walked out, his siblings, nephews and nieces broke out in cheers. But they were soon in tears.
Adi fell to his knees, a broken man in his mother's arms.
"I have mixed feelings, very mixed feelings. I'm so happy, so glad to be here, my home, to see my mother, my brother, my family, my friends, that makes me proud and happy," Adi told CNN at the airport.
"At the same time, I feel so sad of what happened to me,” he continued. “I'm so sorry to tell you what happened is unjust, not right, and everyone back there knows that. What the Trump administration is doing is—you can't even explain it.” But the truth is that Trump’s mass deportation force is set on an ethnic cleansing that is picking up as many families as possible without regard to how long they’ve been here, how many U.S. citizen kids they have, and how much of the American dream they’ve achieved their own grit and sweat. Othman, the owner of Downtown Circle Convenience and Deli and Circle Hookah and Bar in Youngstown, was hailed as a “pillar of the community.”
And, they were lucky to have him:
"The American dream started 40 years ago for me ... I built this whole thing scratch from nothing. Even if anybody wants to stop that American dream, I won't let them. I'm going to keep the fight going," an emotional Adi told CNN.
The hardest thing, he said, is being away from his family.
"I miss my wife, the kids," he said, choking back tears. "I miss Youngstown. I miss everybody."
America should be embracing, not deporting, immigrants like Othman. But for millions of undocumented immigrants already living here, there is no line for them to get into to fix their status. If there were, Othman would have been able to avoid this pain and suffering years ago. “It's a sad day,” David Leopold, his attorney, said following the dad’s deportation. “Rather than use resources to go after “bad hombres,” the Trump administration is focusing on families, business people like Amer Adi, students, moms and dads … we will find a way to bring him back. Legally, they can deport him, they can banish him, but they can't take his American spirit.”
