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3 Children Left Behind As Clifton Parents Deported To Albania

Three Clifton children were forced to say goodbye to their parents who were recently deported by immigration officials to Albania.

The Pukri Family of Clifton. Parents Vitor and Neta were recently deported to Albania, leaving their children behind.

The Pukri Family of Clifton. Parents Vitor and Neta were recently deported to Albania, leaving their children behind.

Photo Credit: GoFundMe

Neta Pukri on Tuesday was placed on a flight from Newark Liberty International Airport and her husband Vitor was sent in March, NorthJersey.com reports.

More than $5,500 had been raised for the Pukri family as of Wednesday on a GoFundMe.

Vitor Pukri was deported in March, and then his wife, Neta, was arrested while waiting for him at the airport. She was being held in Hudson County Jail up until Tuesday evening, when she was forced on a plane at Newark Liberty International Airport and sent back to Albania.

The family was forced to leave their native country where Neta was an accountant and her husband was a veterinarian due to Vitor's political views, according to the story.

The Pukris came to the U.S. on a tourist visa in 2001; they applied for asylum but were denied, NorthJersey.com says.

Vitor was a truck driver and Neta was a waitress at a local diner while residing in Clifton, according to the report.

The Pukris applied for a diversity visa and were selected, but upon meeting with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services officials in February, "they were told they had been issued final orders of deportation after their asylum case was denied," NorthJersey.com says. "Their subsequent appeals were also rejected."

Their U.S.-born 11-year-old daughter and her two older brothers remain in Clifton, unable to work, the GoFundMe says.

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