Pizzeria co-owner to be deported
Rukie Paputchi of Monroe County slated to be sent back to Bulgaria after denied appeal.
By Tom Coombe
Of The Morning Call
February 18, 2008

Time might have run out for Rukie Paputchi, a Bulgarian immigrant from Monroe County facing deportation back to her home country.

The Hamilton Township woman has been in prison for the last month, awaiting deportation. On Thursday, her attorney received news that the federal government had denied her latest appeal.

That means Paputchi -- who is married and has two children -- could be returned to Bulgaria in a matter of days, according to her attorney, Ted Murphy of Philadelphia. Murphy and Paputchi's family blame the situation on a government mix-up.

Paputchi was jailed in January by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents who were carrying out a five-year-old deportation warrant. Paputchi had come to the United States in 1992 and applied for asylum in 1993. She has been held in the Pike County jail -- where ICE keeps detainees from this part of the state -- ever since.

A judge granted her asylum in 1997, but the federal Board of Immigration Appeals challenged that ruling, and had it overturned in 2002. Paputchi then had until Jan. 23, 2003, to leave the country. But she remained as she appealed her case.

After she was jailed, her attorney filed a motion for a stay of deportation, which was denied last week. On Friday, Murphy appealed that ruling to the U.S. Third Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia, hoping to get a stay of deportation. He said he's trying to get her case reopened, or to work out an agreement that would allow her quick return if she is deported. Murphy said he filed something called an application for advanced parole, which allows immigrants in emergency situations to return to the United States without a visa.

''Timing is also critical,'' Murphy said in an e-mail. ''The Bulgarian Embassy is processing a request for Rukie's new passport. As soon as it is received by ICE, they will deport Rukie.'' According to Zekri ''Zack'' Paputchi, Rukie's husband, his wife's parents still live in Bulgaria.

The Paputchis -- part of a small community of Bulgarian immigrants living in the Slate Belt and Monroe County -- say they left Bulgaria because of the ethnic and religious persecution they underwent as Turkish Muslims.

The couple owns and operates Old Mill Pizza in Sciota. They have two children, a 14-year-old son, Hasim, and a 5-year-old daughter, Elise.

In its ruling, the U.S. Department of Justice's Executive Office of Immigration Reform said it realizes Rukie Paputchi has strong ties to the community here.

''We also acknowledge her deportation to Bulgaria will likely result in hardship to herself, her spouse, and her children,'' the ruling says. ''But it is also true that [Paputchi] has been under obligation to depart the United States for over five years, and has chosen of her own volition not to do so.''

Part of Paputchi's case hinges on the 1997 Nicaraguan Adjustment and Central American Relief Act, or NACARA. It was written to benefit Nicaraguan immigrants but it also applies to people from certain Eastern European countries, including Bulgaria. Immigrants who receive relief under NACARA have their status adjusted to legal permanent resident and receive a green card as long as they came to the United States before the end of 1990 and applied for asylum before the end of 1991.

Zack Paputchi arrived here and applied for asylum in 1990, which means he's eligible. His wife arrived permanently in 1992. Under the law, Zack's spouse and children are also eligible, which Murphy said means Rukie Paputchi should be granted the same protections as her husband. Zack Paputchi and Murphy both say the government erred in this situation by not notifying Zack Paputchi of his NACARA eligibility.

''Whose fault is that?'' Zack Paputchi asked Sunday. ''Why are we going to suffer now?''

Last week's ruling said that Zack Paputchi hadn't applied for NACARA relief, which meant Rukie wasn't protected either. Murphy says the government is mistaken on this point as well, and that he's filed proof that Zack Paputchi had asked for NACARA protection. After almost 18 years in the country, Zack Paputchi hasn't become a citizen. His asylum request is still under appeal but NACARA would make him a legal permanent resident. If that happens, Murphy says, his wife could go free.

tom.coombe@mcall.com
610-559-2157
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