BY DAVID ASHENFELTER

DETROIT FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER




Federal immigration officials have agreed to delay for six weeks the deportation of a Sterling Heights woman and her 18-year-old daughter to Albania, a lawyer for the family said today.
Detroit attorney William Swor said U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agreed to delay the deportation until June 15 to allow Ola Kaso to graduate from Cousino High School in Warren. After that, Kaso and her mother, Violeta Kaso, 53, who owns a donut shop and bakery in Center Line, must be ready to leave.
“I’m glad that the government saw fit to be humane about this, but I think it’s a tragedy for America that people like this have to leave,” Swor said. “These are the kind of people we want in the United States. They’re hard working, have never asked anyone for a dime and value education.”
There was no immediate comment from ICE.
Swor filed a federal lawsuit last Thursday, saying immigration officials took the Kasos into custody March 28 and handcuffed them without warning during what they thought was a routine visit to immigration office in Detroit to prepare for their eventual removal.
U.S. District Judge David Lawson halted the deportation until a hearing April 14. Swor said today’s agreement means the hearing won’t be held and he will dismiss his suit.
The Kasos, citizens of Albania, came to the U.S. legally in 1998, when Ola was 4, and applied for asylum.
Violeta Kaso was allowed to work while the request was processed.
The family eventually lost their asylum request, partly because their original immigration lawyer failed an appeal brief. They’ve battled unsuccessfully through the courts since then.
Ola Kaso told reporters last week that starting over in a country she hasn’t seen in 14 years will be difficult.
“It’s the only country she’s ever never known,” her current immigration lawyer, Ashley Mammo of West Bloomfield, said today. “Although she’s a citizen of Albania, the United States is the only country she’s ever known.” Mammo said Ola’s sister, who attended college and obtained two master’s degrees in criminal justice, likely will be allowed to stay because she married a U.S. citizen.