Wisconsin Rapids father of two to be deported to West Africa

WISCONSIN RAPIDS - Overwhelmed. Disappointed. Outraged.

That's how Wisconsin Rapids native Katrina Jabbi said she feels after learning her husband, Buba, will be deported to The Gambia, Africa — a place he hasn't called home in over 20 years.

"I honestly feel like everything is crashing down on me all at once," Jabbi wrote on a GoFundMe page set up for her family's legal expenses to fight the deportation. "I carry a heavy burden. Though it is difficult during this time, I am fully trusting in God and keeping faith that everything will fall into place."

The Wisconsin Rapids couple have two daughters, Nalia, 5, and Aisha, 1. They have been married for five years and are expecting their third child in October.

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The Jabbi family is facing a reality many more people in the U.S. have lived through since the Trump administration's crackdown on illegal immigration. While the United States is stopping fewer people crossing borders illegally, it has been deporting more people who already were in the country and in violation of immigration laws, according to U.S. Customs and Immigrations Enforcement data.

Buba Jabbi came to the United States in 1995 with a temporary visa, according to the GoFundMe page. When the proper paperwork was not filed in time, he was given final orders of removal. However, he was considered "undeportable" because his country would not provide travel documents on his behalf, Katrina Jabbi wrote on the page.

Instead, he was given orders of supervision, requiring him to report to immigration once a year and obtain work authorization, which, according to Katrina Jabbi, he has done obediently for the last 10 years. Buba Jabbi was working as a truck driver, she said.

The couple received word this week that Buba will be flown to Africa by charter plane on March 6. He won't be able to come back to the U.S. for at least 10 years, according to his wife.

You can visit the family's GoFundMe page for more information.



