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Updated: 5:59 AM Feb 2, 2009
Local Man Faces Deportation After Eight Year Immigration Battle
A local man is facing deportation after repeatedly trying to gain political asylum in the United States. Kristo Papa has been working legally for six years as a chef at a local country clubs with a work permit.
Posted: 7:07 PM Feb 1, 2009Reporter: Bianca Spinosa Email Address: bianca.spinosa@wcav.tv |
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6 Comments 
February 1, 2009
A local man is facing deportation after repeatedly trying to gain political asylum in the United States.
Kristo Papa has been working legally with a work permit in Charlottesville as a chef at the Glenmore Country Club for six years, but Papa still hasn't qualified for U.S. citizenship.
He says it's because of mistakes his past lawyers made, mistakes that may cost him and his family a future in the United States.
"I never did anything wrong, I never did a crime," says Kristo Papo. "You know I'm just like an American citizen, paying taxes, I bought a house, helping in the economy. Why would I be chosen to go back?"
"Every night...thinking about it, gathering at the kitchen table, wondering what we're going to do tomorrow. How we're going to go through all this," said Elmira Khakimova, Kristo's wife, on dealing with the process.
Kristo Papa was living the American Dream. Eight years after fleeing his home country of Albania, Papa had bought his own home in Fishersville, found a successful well-paying job, and started a family with a woman he fell in love with here in Charlottesville. But he's still struggling to gain citizenship.
"I decided to follow the legal way that this country requires, and I'll keep fighting for it," said Papa. "I've spent a lot of money with lawyers. I've spent up to $35,000."
Mr. Papa fled Albania because of his political beliefs. He escaped to Canada first, before crossing the border into the United States. He says Albania would not allow him to get a Visa to the U.S. directly.
"I had to come illegally to the United States in order to save my life," Papa says.
He worries about what will happen to his wife and his 20-month-old son, Nicholas, if he has to leave the country.
"I mean he has his own life here, and I think that he deserves a chance to get education here in his own country," says Kristo Papa.
"I can't picture myself going away from my mom and my dad and taking my son away from the grandparents," said Elmira. "I just can't picture that."
Papa went through three immigration lawyers. One apparently forgot to include all the needed documents, so the appeal was rejected.
He found out last month that he got his last denial for political asylum. But Kristo Papa isn't giving up.
"In order to build your life you can't be in the shadows."
CBS19 spoke with a member of the Ruthersford Institute Sunday, and she says their human and civil rights group here in Charlottesville could possibly help with the case.
They helped another immigrant, Gennady Denisenko, who faced deportation.
Latest Comments
Since when is contributing to society a crime. You pay taxes, don't cause trouble and do what you are suppose to and this is how you are rewarded. He may not be a native born American but he sure loves this country more than some of the people that are. Kristo deserves to stay in America so he can raise his son and give him the life that he deserves. It isn't fare to send a child (who is a US citizen) to a foreign country to be raised with political ideals their parents don't believe are right. He's admitted his faults and because of some lawyers mistakes he may be taken from his family. Not fair. Get rid of these people that don't contribute to society, the ones who rob and kill to get what they want, not the ones who actually work their butts off for what they have. Who cares how he got here, what matters is what he does while he's here.
This is a tragedy and aptly reflects the failure of the system to help those in need and to protect them from a life of degradation. These are honest, hard working people who just want what everyone else does; the means to support their families and provide for their kids. So what if they were born elsewhere? By working and living here they are contributing to society. This is not a zero sum game. They should not be deported.
The tragedy of this family is that punishing one man INS actually punishes the whole American family: his wife and his son are fully legal in this country but have to leave it because they do not want to ruin the family. Why deportation? It could be a penalty, a duty, restrictions, etc. Now we are risking to lose not one, but three valuable fellows.
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