Medina Blekic was a standout member of Nease’s NJROTC program, a patriot who was known to proudly sing the national anthem at various events throughout St. Johns County.
Medina, her mom Amra, sister Jenny and father Elvir, who was from Bosnia and Herzegovina, came to the U.S. 10 years ago. They created a life in the area, with both Jenny and Medina becoming involved in one of the country’s top NJROTC programs at Nease, and Amra and Elvir opening their own cleaning business.
They followed all the rules and regulations, applying for asylum upon arrival, maintaining their visas, contributing to the community, paying taxes and staying out of trouble. According to a column by Mark Woods of the Florida Times-Union, the family’s request for asylum was denied in 2014, but they were repeatedly issued stays of removal, allowing them to remain here as they continued to try and find a pathway toward citizenship. Medina worked her way up to company commander of Nease’s NJROTC program, Amra worked as the manager of a local fast-food restaurant and Jenny got married less than a year ago.
But, in 2017, their stay of removal was denied, meaning, despite all their efforts, technically, they were here illegally. That’s when Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) got involved, allowing the Blekics to remain in the country until Medina graduated from Nease, but notifying them that deportation was imminent.
So, on June 25, the family obeyed orders again, flying to Bosnia, a place completely unfamiliar to Amra, Jenny and Medina, a place no longer at war, but still in turmoil with massive unemployment and continuing tension over ethnic and religious divides.
Heather Matthews, parent booster club president for Nease’s NJROTC, knew the girls and their parents well after volunteering with Amra for numerous NJROTC events and having sons in the program with Jenny and Medina. She said the family now stays in a single room with just a couple of couches.
“The girls are just in shock,” Matthews said. “They don’t want to leave their room, they’re afraid to go out.”
She said Medina was a “real go-getter,” an asset to Nease and beyond, with hopes of joining the Navy someday.
“Medina, from the word ‘go’ her freshman year, she jumped in with both feet,” Matthews said. “She ended up with leadership positions on the drill team. She went to the Area 12 Leadership Academy, which is a very elite program. Her senior year, she was one of the company commanders. She was one of the few who was on the varsity drill team for all four of her years in high school.”
She said it’s also what makes what happened to the family a terrible surprise.
“They did it all right,” Matthews said. “They were here legally. They left when they were told to. Everybody has been behind them. It is the kind of family you want to see stay here. It seems like the ones like them who do the right thing are on the radar, when we have so many immigrants who aren’t doing the right thing flying under the radar because they haven’t filed the proper paperwork and you don’t know where they are.
“It’s one of those things where you hope that doing it the right way will benefit you, and it didn’t,” Matthews added. “It definitely came back to bite them.”
Part of the problem for the Blekic family was a policy passed by the Trump Administration in 2017 which eliminated prioritization when it comes to deportation. According to Time magazine, President Barack Obama’s policy regarding ICE and deportation primarily focused on violent offenders and recent border crossers. In January 2017, President Donald Trump issued Executive Order (EO) 13,768, which “set forth the administration’s immigration enforcement and removal priorities” and expanded ICE’s enforcement focus, broadening the scale. According to Time, in December 2017, acting director of ICE Thomas Homan told reporters, “There’s no population that’s off the table. If you’re in the country illegally, we’re looking for you.”
Since the EO, there has been a sharp rise in the number of deportations of long-term immigrants. According to the American Immigration Council, ICE statistics show that between Jan. 25, 2017, and the end of fiscal year 2017 (Sept. 30), ICE made 110,568 arrests — a 42 percent increase over the 77,806 arrests made during the same period in 2016.
Tammy Spicer, public affairs officer for ICE, wasn’t specifically familiar with the Blekic case, but said once ICE is involved, it’s almost too late to do anything.
“We’re only involved because they’re not able to stay here legally,” Spicer said. “ICE is never a path to legal citizenship.”
She said if someone has overstayed a visa, ICE is automatically alerted. The Blekic family was allowed to stay until Medina’s graduation, but Spicer said those extensions are just delaying the inevitable.
“Stay of removal just means you don’t have to move right this second,” she said. “We might be able to put off the inevitable for a period, but they probably don’t have a legal path to stay here.”
But the across-the-board policy often affects long-term immigrants who have built lives and businesses in the country, which doesn’t sit well with Master Chief John Duffy, a former NJROTC instructor who got to know Medina and Jenny during their time at Nease.
Duffy said deporting families like the Blekics contradicts what the country claims it wants in regard to immigrants.
“That really bothers me that our government did this,” he said. “They didn’t go case-by-case and look at those involved. … It’s kind of two-faced. You say one thing and then you have to take it back.”
Spicer said she also understands the delicate nature of the deportation issue, especially when it comes to long-term immigrants.
“It’s a very sensitive topic on so many levels,” she said. “We don’t remove someone until they’ve exhausted their avenues to stay. We do not deport anyone until they’ve had full due process.”
And while what happened to the Blekics may be agonizing, Spicer said it’s important for ICE to treat all cases equally.
“Where do you draw the line?” she said. “It’s a slippery slope, and so emotional. Especially when you have a family that is involved.”
Duffy, a retired Navy veteran, said while he understands and supports the need for a strict immigration policy, deportation should be based on the situation and the individuals involved.
“I’m all for sending someone back who comes into our country illegally, regardless of what the reason is,” he said. “But they didn’t do that. They came here legally, and they did everything they were supposed to, and we should have done everything we were supposed to do. We did not do that, as far as I’m concerned.”
Duffy was also concerned about the threat the Blekic family may face for fleeing Bosnia in the first place.
“Imagine trying to get a job over there where everybody resents you,” Duffy said.
The language barrier is also a big issue.
“Medina doesn’t speak a word of Bosnian,” Duffy said. “This was a big slap in the face. She just graduated school. We know how difficult it is when somebody comes to our country and doesn’t speak the language and tries to get a job. It’s hard to get a job if you don’t speak the language, and that’s what she’s dealing with.”
Many in the Nease community still have hope the situation will be resolved and they can welcome the family’s return. A GoFundMe campaign has been launched to support the family. So far, $13,615 has been raised.
Attempts to reach the Blekics were unsuccessful, but Matthews said the family hasn’t given up hope, either, of returning to the country they’ve grown to love, practically the only country the two girls have ever known.
“They still seem optimistic, they still really want to come back,” Matthews said. “In spite of it all, this is still the country they consider home at this point in their lives and they still desperately want to come back.”
