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October 7, 2008

Saranac Lake businessman facing deportation

Saranac Laker facing deportation prospect

By JACOB RESNECK

SARANAC LAKE -- A Saranac Lake businessman is in Clinton County Jail facing deportation after being arrested by immigration agents.

Paresh Prajapati, 43, a citizen of India, was picked up Sept. 25 by a task force working to clear the backlog of undocumented aliens living in the country.

Prajapati has lived in the community since 2001, when his wife, Pragna, took a skilled laboratory job at Adirondack Medical Center in Saranac Lake.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman Michael Gilhooly said Prajapati has been a fugitive since an immigration judge ordered him to leave the country in 1999. He has not been accused of committing any crime, other than overstaying his visa.

"He has had due process. He chose to defy the judge's order. He will now be detained by ICE until he is removed from the country. If you run from us once, you don't get a second opportunity."

For the past two years, the family has owned and operated E&M Market, a delicatessen and convenience store in Saranac Lake. The married couple of 17 years have two children in local schools.

If Prajapati is deported, he would be banned from returning for a minimum of five years, Gilhooly said.

His wife declined to comment, other than to say she's been heartened by the community's support.

Longtime employee Barbara Kent was working with Prajapati when immigration agents arrived early in the morning and led him away in handcuffs.

She said she's dismayed that someone as well-liked and respected as Prajapati is being treated like a common criminal.

"He's a really good guy, would give you the shirt off his back, and he helps a lot of people around here. It's a sad thing to see this happen."

At the deli, Kent says regular customers constantly ask about Prajapati's welfare.

"A lot of people come in every day asking what they can do to help. And we're just trying to find out what we can do to help him."

Prajapati was picked up by a Fugitive Operations Team operating under the auspices of the Department of Homeland Security. The task forces have been working to find and deport people who have overstayed their visas or otherwise run afoul of immigration laws since 2003.

ICE agents sometimes partner with local law enforcement, though Saranac Lake Police had no advance knowledge of Prajapati's arrest.

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