*After 20 years in America as a non-citizen, Khoudiedia Nianghane’s illegal immigration status finally caught up with her this past weekend.
According to reports, she was originally detained by ICE during the summer of 2015 under the Obama administration, and was sent back to her home country Saturday without a full explanation.
The three children she left behind are trying to raise money through GoFundMe for a trip to Senegal to see her this summer.
The donation page can be accessed by clicking here.
The daughter is a college student in Blue Ash, the sons are in school on the west side and the father works in the area.
“Oh, she was very strong, she didn’t show us any emotions,” recalled 20-year-old Mariam Traore.
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Bakary says he and his 17-year-old brother Mustafa try to not dwell on the deportation of their mother.
“She’s doing fine,” he said. “We talked about our plans of going to visit her…asking everybody to forgive her and pray for her.”
Khoudiedia doesn’t speak English, cannot read or write and when she missed a court date regarding her immigration papers, ICE was legally able to pick her up and send her far, far away.
“I’ve done this for 40 years”, said Immigration attorney Douglas Wiegle. “This one really puzzled me.”
Wiegle said he was told by a lawyer for ICE that Khoudiedia was considered a priority. He found nothing in her background to justify a detention pickup out of the blue. His effort to get her case reopened failed.
Typically a new criminal conviction would trigger a sudden pick up by ICE agents. But in Khoudiedia’s case, there is no known criminal instance or activity.
Wiegle believes that through some misunderstanding in court two years ago, the missed court date left her vulnerable to detention.
“Legally, ICE was in a solid position,” he says.
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