Imagine not being able to spend precious moments with your kids in the pool for a whole summer. Not being able to pick your kids up from school. Having to live your life knowing someone else has control over you.

These were some of the many struggles Denada Rondos faced. She was a Cheshire resident that entered the country illegally in 2002. The mother of three was ordered by an immigration judge to be removed from the country in 2009.

She was on a temporary reprieve, but was presented with a one way ticket to Albania with a deadline of November 13, 2017. She was packed up at her door about to leave when she learned she was granted a reprieve. But with the reprieve, she had to wear an ankle brace that tracked her location. “She felt like a prisoner, she's not a prisoner,” stated her husband, Viron.

When she was seventeen, her country, Albania, was falling apart. Criminals were breaking out of jail, and then storming into military bases to get guns. There were also people kidnapping girls, sending them to other countries and forcing persecution upon them. Also people were getting killed for their religious beliefs. She had no other choice than to leave. Her mother knew that she couldn’t let her daughter live like this, so frantically one night she sent Denada to the airport with a fake passport to get into the US.

When she got here she applied for political asylum. Individuals can apply for political asylum if they face persecution. According to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, “Asylum status is a form of protection available to people who, meet the definition of refugee, are already in the United States, and are seeking admission at a port of entry.” Not only that but she was struggling to support herself. Denada was working in a laundry place and barley making 10 dollars an hour. Since she didn’t have enough money to hire a good attorney, she lost the case and the judge didn’t believe her. Since she clearly met all the guidelines to be an asylee, it outraged the town of Cheshire.