Janina Frydel was put on a plane without any warm clothes or the chance to say good-bye to her family. The Polish immigrant fought her deportation order, but to no avail.
“So we deploy our Polish troops to Iraq yet Americans send our Polish citizens back to their country under this condition.”
That was the reaction of one of the Polish border patrol officers who saw Frydel on November 4 at the Warsaw airport. The deportee got off the plane in overall and sandals. It was snowing outside.
“We will accomplish something together. If not for me, maybe my case will be a learning lesson for others,” Frydel wrote two weeks ago to Nowy Dziennik.
Her story could be a warning for those who build their lives in the United States without legalizing their immigration status. The widow, who has raised three children (two of whom have legalized their status in the United States), lived in New Jersey for more than 12 years in fear of deportation.
Frydel arrived in the United States on a tourist visa in 1991. Two weeks after her arrival, she was caught working illegally. She agreed to leave the country voluntarily; however, she remained in the United States so a deportation order was issued. For more than 12 years, she tried to reopen her case and legalize her immigration status but failed.
Frydel’s current lawyer, Douglas Grannan, admits that in the early stages of his client’s case, her legal counsels (some of whom didn’t have a law degree) made many mistakes. In addition, there was always something that would make legalizing Frydel’s status impossible – a legally binding deportation order.
“My case is a typical example of the unfairness of the immigration law. If I hadn’t been caught, everything would be okay. The fact that I worked without a permit wouldn’t have been a problem,” said Frydel. Two of her children, who have legalized their status in the United States, are living proofs.
On September 16, Frydel reported to work in a meat factory in Camden, New Jersey, at 5 a.m. The fact that she was called to the manager’s office surprised Frydel, but she didn’t expect what was about to happen.
“When I saw immigration officers I knew what it was about,” Frydel said as she described the moment of her arrest.
For ICE officers, she was just another person arrested during the Return to Sender operation. As there wasn’t any room in the immigration detention facility, Frydel was sent to the Middlesex County Adult Correction Center and found herself among criminals. Even though her family moved heaven and earth, the court rejected the appeal for re-opening Frydel’s case and the Polish immigrant was deported on the evening of November 3.
While Frydel was serving jail time, her lawyer made the last attempt to reopen her deportation case; however, the immigration judge, Kent J Frederick, didn’t find justification to grant this request.
Polish authorities are helpless in cases such as Frydel’s. Polish Consul Wojciech Lukasiewicz explained to Nowy Dziennik that Polish consulates cannot interfere with U.S. immigration matters. In cases similar to Frydel’s, the role of the consul is limited to jail visitations.
“We are shocked to see that people stay in the United States for so many years, even several decades, without doing anything to legalize their immigration status,” said Lukasiewisz.
Frydel spent 10 long weeks behind bars. “A few weeks after my mom’s arrest, I gave birth to my second daughter on September 26. I thought my mother would be with me,” said Elzbieta, Frydel’s daughter. Fortunately, just before her deportation, Frydel managed to see her granddaughter. The prison guards allowed her to hold her visiting grandchildren.
Frydel hopes that she’ll be able to return to the United States. She is now preparing to apply for a waiver of her 10-year reentry prohibition. The chances for the application to be successful will increase significantly when her daugther, Elzbieta, receives her U.S. citizenship, which is now just a matter of weeks.
Frydel’s ties to the United States speak in her favor – the presence of her siblings, children and grandchildren here as well as the ownership of a house.
Grannan, however, admits that there are also reasons for the waiver not to be granted. Frydel left the United States at the expense of U.S. taxpayers, and she stayed for 10 weeks in a U.S. jail (also at the expense of the U.S. government). All of these may be viewed negatively by U.S. courts.
