When your life is in order, but your papers are not

BLOOMING GROVE — With federal immigration detainees in the population, a lot of people from other places are housed at the Pike County Jail; some of whom you might not expect to find there. After 16 years in the U.S. with her husband and giving birth to two American born children, Rukie Paputchi is liable to be deported in the next few weeks to a country where she was persecuted as a Turkish Muslim - her native Bulgaria. According to their attorney, Theodore Murphy, the trauma the Paputchi family faces now began on Jan. 7 when agents of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement knocked on their door and asked for Rukie. They told her they had a warrant to deport her back to Bulgaria. Rukie was arrested and is currently imprisoned at the Pike County Correctional Facility. Her husband, Zack Paputchi, came to the U.S. in 1990 on a visa. Before the visa expired, he applied for political asylum, in November of that same year. He claimed he was suffering religious persecution under Bulgaria’s communist regime. Zack’s application sat on a shelf until August 1995 when, upon referring it to an immigration judge, an INS officer wrote, “If the application had been reviewed when it was filed, it would have been approved.” In 1996, Zack’s application for asylum was denied. He filed his appeal to the Board of Immigration Appeals, where it has remained for the last 11 years. Rukie legally joined her husband in the U.S. in 1992, and filed for political asylum in 1993. Her asylum case was approved in 1997 and later appealed by the government. The agency said political conditions in Bulgaria between 1990 and 1997 changed, and the Turks now have their own political party who support the governing coalition. As of 1991 they are 9.4 percent of the population. When her appeal was denied in 2003, she was ordered to leave the country voluntarily. She didn’t. Even after the order to leave the U.S., she remained hopeful that something good would come of it all. Although neither Zack nor Rukie had been granted permanent residency, they felt confident. After years of anticipation they thought it would just be a “waiting game” and their time would come. Together they have lived as good “American” citizens, paying taxes, obeying the laws of the country, paying for their own health and life insurance, raising their two children just like other good citizens, and worked hard to build their pizza business, The Old Mill Pizzeria, in Scotia. Their first child, Hasim, was born in 1993 and their second child, Elise, was born in 2003. Their children are American citizens as they were born in this country. Now Zack faces the prospect of Rukie being deported and having to raise their children by himself. In an interview earlier this week Hasim, now 14, said, “I want my mom to get out, come home and have our family back again.” “We just want to get back together and have a life here. We want to be regular Americans,” Zack said to the Courier. Attorney Murphy reiterated the point made by the reviewing INS officer in 1995. “If his case had been adjudicated when he first applied he would have succeeded. Instead his papers remain sitting on a shelf for many years and has still not been resolved.” He added, “Mr. Paputchi is still eligible to file for permanent residency under the 1997 act called the Nicaraguan Adjustment and Central American Relief Act which allowed Central Americans and Eastern Europeans to become U.S. citizens. “If Mrs. Paputchi’s case were allowed to be joined with her husband’s case under the same act she would also be eligible for permanent residency,” said Murphy. Murphy has filed an Emergency Motion to Stay Deportation with the Bureau of Immigration Appeals. In Rukie’s 2003 petition, the Bureau of Immigration Appeals found, “… the petitioner has not established that she was eligible for asylum or withholding deportation,” and found, “... no basis for granting the petition. We agree with the Board of Immigration Appeals that past treatment alleged by the petitioner, although deplorable, does not rise to the high level required to constitute persecution.” Murphy also deplores the situation. He spoke of his own life experiences. “I spent four years in the Army as a paratrooper with the 82nd Airborne Division and Rapid Deployment Force to protect our people and our way of life. I spent another 10 years as a federal trial attorney working with the Joint Terrorism Task Force deporting hardened criminals and other nefarious people in order to keep our streets and citizens safe. Rukie and her husband, Zack, are exactly the same as all the other good people I have spent my life protecting. They exemplify the American spirit. Their hard work, determination to make a better life for their children, and their lifelong desire to be free are what makes this country the beacon of hope and dreams it still is. Rukie is not a person to callously throw away. The failure of our taxpayer-funded government officials to do their duty in a timely manner should not be overlooked. Rukie is eligible to become a permanent resident if only the court would allow her to stay. “If she doesn’t win this appeal, it seems that Mrs. Paputchi will be deported back to Bulgaria in two to three weeks,” Murphy said with apparent sorrow in his voice. “If you have a sympathetic heart and actually knew the Paputchis, you would understand that they are good ‘Americans.’ They are not in the same class as the millions of illegal aliens that are in our country who don’t pay taxes and live off the system.” What you can do The fate of Rukie Paputchi and her family is in the hands of the legal system, attorney Murphy said. “They need your help. If you believe in the ‘American Dream’ and that those who work hard and follow the rules should prevail, this is your chance to show your support for this family before Rukie is deported to Bulgaria.” Murphy asked that readers write or call their state senators, congressmen, and local representatives and ask them to help the Paputchis. Individuals can also send letters of support to him at: Theodore J. Murphy, Esq. at Klasko, Rulon, Stock & Seltzer, LLP, 1800 John F. Kennedy Blvd. Suite 1700, Philadelphia, PA 19103 . “I will see they are properly filed with the Appeals Court which will officially make them part of Mrs. Paputchi’s file,” he said.