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Utah man detained and deported to Samoa, leaving family wondering why

Aufanua Manusina, pictured here with his wife and two of his children, was deported to Samoa on Tuesday.  (Photo courtesy Sauelelee Manusina)

After living in the United States for 15 years, a West Valley City man was deported to Samoa on Tuesday, leaving his wife wondering how she came to be a single mother of four children younger than 5 years old.

Aufanua Manusina had just renewed his work permit in March. Officials called him back into the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcements field office on Decker Lake Drive on June 20, supposedly to update some documents. An officer told his wife, Sauelelee, that her husband would not be going home with her.

Three weeks later, on Aug. 1, he was deported to Samoa, and she was left to take care of four young children in West Valley City.

“Last week, that was the most heartbreaking day for me to face with my children,” Sauelelee Manusina said. “There are no better words to fully describe the sadness that I see in my children’s eyes when I have to explain that their father will not be coming home.”

Read more at Salt Lake Tribune