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On Eve of Trump's State of Union, Rally for Deported Youngstown Businessman

About 100 supporters of a Youngstown businessman who was deported to Jordan Monday rallied near Cleveland's West Side Market to protest President Trump's immigration policies.  

Though he was 6,000 miles away, 57-year-old Amer Adi addressed the crowd by way of his daughter’s cell phone, encouraging people to embrace the cause of young undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. as children.

“For the people there I say keep the fight going. This fight is for a lot of people out there that are living fear," said Adi.

Adi had lived in the U.S. for nearly 40 years, and became a community leader in Youngstown. Last fall, federal Immigration and Custom Enforcement officials ordered him deported, then later cancelled plans that Adi and his wife had made to leave the country voluntarily.  They then arrested and imprisoned him before flying him to Jordan Monday night.

Dan McCarthy, a Cleveland State law student who attended the rally, said friends of his are living in fear of immigration raids.

"You would expect this in some dictatorial regime. But we hold ourselves up as a democracy and it’s frightening to see this be the current state of affairs," said McCarthy.

During President Trump's speech Tuesday night to Congress, Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Youngstown) left his seat vacant in honor of Adi and his family.  Ryan had tried to broker a deal to have Adi's deportation case reviewed.