The daughters of Asif Amin Cheema, who was deported from the US state of Illinois, have claimed that their father was legally residing in the United States and that forcibly sending him back to Pakistan was an unjust act. The daughters have demanded that their father be allowed to return to the US.
Asif Amin, who owned a restaurant in Chicago’s Humboldt Park area, was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in September while he was on his way to work, his daughters stated.
They claimed that their father held a valid work permit and was about to attend an interview related to obtaining his green card.
Asif Amin was scheduled to be deported in November, but just moments before being boarded onto the flight, he was rushed to hospital after experiencing severe chest pain.
The appeals court later refused to allow Asif Amin to remain in the United States, following which he was deported to Pakistan on January 1.
Cheema claimed that he was not even given medication at the time of his arrest. He suffers from a heart condition and does not know when he will be able to reunite with his family.
Asif’s daughters questioned why a deportation order issued in the 1990s was suddenly enforced now. An attorney had assisted in changing his immigration status, but the family said they were unaware that a decades-old deportation order was still on record against him.
Asif’s daughter Rabia Amin said in an emotional statement that the family had followed every legal procedure, yet her father was maltreated.
She said her father had come to the US with dreams of securing a better future for his children, dreams they never imagined would be shattered like this.
The family hopes that a judge will step forward to review the case afresh so that the separated family can once again live together in the United States.