US releases Polish father of 3 facing deportation
Associated Press

Posted on August 12, 2011 at 2:33 PM

MONROE, Connecticut (AP) — A father of three who has been in the U.S. illegally since 1987 and faces deportation to Poland was freed from federal detention Friday after lobbying by U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal's office.

But Tomasz Kocab of Monroe, Connecticut, was ordered to report back to immigration authorities in six months with plans to leave the U.S., his lawyer, Anthony Collins, told The Associated Press. Kocab is hoping to reopen his immigration case and win permission to become a citizen before the six months is up, Collins said.

Kocab's wife, Joanna Jednacz-Kocab, thanked the media and Blumenthal for bringing attention to the case. The couple have three daughters, ages 8, 15 and 17.

"It looks like a total changeabout," she told the Connecticut Post on Friday. "I am just strongly surprised."

Jednacz-Kocab, who is also from Poland, is a legal resident with a green card granting permanent residency status and is due to become a U.S. citizen in October, which may help her husband's case, the Post reported.

Agents with federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement took Kocab into custody three weeks ago as he was leaving home for work, based on his failure to follow a 2000 order by a federal immigration judge to leave the country.

Kocab came to the U.S. from Poland in 1986 on a visa that expired the next year and applied for a green card, but his request was rejected.

"Mr. Kocab was an immigration fugitive," said ICE spokesman Ross Feinstein in Washington, D.C. "He did not comply with the judge's order."

A spokeswoman for Blumenthal said the senator's office urged immigration officials this week to free Kocab.

"He should be given the right to make his case and to remain in this country while he does it so that his family can be kept together and he can continue contributing, as he's done for many, many years," Blumenthal told WVIT-TV.

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