A Clifton mother of three is deported to Albania, months after her husband’s removal
Pukri family was expecting a diversity visa, but the parents were detained. The father is in jail and the mother has to wear an ankle bracelet. Anne-Marie Caruso/NorthJersey.com
Less than three months after her husband was deported, a Clifton woman met the same fate this week when immigration officials put her on a flight to Albania, forcing her to leave her three children behind, including an 11-year old daughter with U.S. citizenship.
Emilio K. Dabul, a spokesman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Newark, confirmed that Neta Pukri left on a flight from Newark Liberty International Airport on Tuesday evening.
Sally Pillay, program director for First Friends of New Jersey and New York, who had been assisting Pukri and her husband, Vitor, expressed heartbreak over her removal.
“I am so sad,’’ Pillay said. “It is so painful and close to my heart for this family.”
Pillay said the Pukris’ oldest son, Bepin, is taking care of their U.S.-born daughter, Angela, 11. Bepin Pukri could not be reached on Wednesday.
“He’s serving as her father and a mother, to console his younger sister,” she said. “He is her caretaker.”
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Seth Kaper-Dale, co-pastor of the Reformed Church of Highland Park, said he found out about Pukri’s deportation on Tuesday evening from a fellow immigrant advocate. He said her removal was a reminder that immigrant parents are being separated from their children not only at the border, but also all across the nation as the Trump administration continues to take a hard-line on immigration enforcement.
“What is happening at the southern border is horrendous,” he said. “It is happening to thousands. But on the interior of the country, family-breaking is occurring, too. ”
Neta and Vitor Pukri arrived in the United States in 2001 on a tourist visa, applied for asylum and were denied. They settled in Clifton, where Vitor Pukri worked as a truck driver and Neta Pukri was a waitress at a local diner.
They later applied for a diversity visa, which is granted to immigrants from countries with low rates of immigration to the United States. They were selected for the visa, but when they went to an appointment with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services officials in February, they were told they had been issued final orders of deportation after their asylum case was denied. Their subsequent appeals were also rejected.
Vitor Pukri was detained the day of their meeting with USCIS, and Neta Pukri was fitted with an ankle monitor.
On March 28, Vitor Pukri was deported. Veta Pukri was taken into custody the same day, after officials said she and her son Mikel tried to interfere with his deportation at Newark Airport. Mikel surrendered to police a few days later.
Mikel, who was protected from deportation under an Obama-era policy known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, has been held at the Essex County Jail. It was not clear Wednesday if he was still in custody.
In an interview earlier this year, Neta Pukri said the couple had a good life in Albania, where her husband was a veterinarian and she was an accountant. But she said the family was forced to leave for various reasons, including her husband’s political views, which made them a target for threats.
Pillay said that she spoke to Neta Pukri every day while she was detained at the Hudson County jail, and that she always expressed worry over the well-being of her children.
“We were trying to figure out a solution for her, and time was not on our hands, unfortunately,” she said.
Email: alvarado@northjersey.com
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