STERLING HEIGHTS, Mich. – An Albanian mother of three was deported Wednesday night after living 18 years in Michigan.
Cile Precetaj, 46, was deported overnight. Her husband, Peter Gojcevic, said she called the family from Germany.
Precetaj has lived in the United States for 18 years. She faced a deportation scare in 2013, but she was saved by an executive order in 2014.
Her family says that Precetaj has tried to become a legal citizen since she came to the U.S. Her family and attorney also say that she hadn't committed any crimes since she came to the country undocumented.
"If we added up all the money we have spent in attorney fees, it's easily a quarter of a million dollars with everybody promising, and in the end I'm right here with three crying children and a crying mother," Gojcevic, said. "They say well, she broke the law; she came in here illegally and she overstayed. I think there's a bigger law being broken with breaking up a family."
Precetaj was detained April 26 when she went for her monthly check-in at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Field Office on Mt. Elliot Street in Detroit.