Amer Adi called Youngstown, Ohio his home. A business owner, a husband, and the father of four beautiful daughters, Adi has lived here in America, happily, for almost 40 years. Originally from Jordan, Adi was deported back there a week ago, part of Trump's redoubled efforts on immigration.
According to CNN, he is considered a "pillar of his community." Adi even has the backing of Ohio Congressman Tim Ryan. His wife and daughters are all U.S. citizens. And Adi even owns multiple businesses, creating jobs in his area and he's known locally for distributing hundreds of turkeys to the poor in his community on Thanksgiving.
But for the past 20 years Adi has been fighting to stay here in the U.S., after his first wife (who claims she was coerced by immigration officials) signed a statement against him, alleging marriage fraud. (She has since retracted her statement in an affidavit.)
After being deported and landing in Amman, Jordan Adi told CNN:
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. At the same time, I feel so sad of what happened to me. 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.
People on Twitter could not understand the point of deporting someone like Adi:
Trump supporters were not having any of it and some tried to reason with them, provide facts, and urge them to actually read the article in full.
Congressman Ryan, who views Adi as a "pillar of the community" has fought for him to remain in America, even securing multiple stays of the deportation order. Regretfully, the congressman was unable to do so this time.
Ryan told CNN in an interview:
If you would see the breadth of support that this gentleman has, from whether it's his Italian-Irish Catholic congressman or an African-American Pentecostal Republican woman who is supporting him or the working-class people I saw in his shop the day they thought he was going to get deported ... to show support for him.
In the end, maybe the most important thing to remember is that Adi—a husband, father, business man, and well-loved member of his Ohio community—has now been sent back to a place he hasn't known for the last 40 years. Ask yourself, if these were your circumstances, how would you feel?
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