LYNNWOOD – More than three years ago, Adi Gucake and her family escaped their native Fiji just in time for her father, a politician there, to avoid being killed by revolutionaries.
Barton Glasser / The Herald
Saveneca Gucake (left) cries as he prays with his niece Adi Gucake and other family and friends Tuesday night for the well-being of family members who are in a federal detention center in Tacoma facing deportation to Fiji.
The girl, 16, was on her way home from Edmonds-Woodway High School on Oct. 6 when she heard that her parents had been arrested and were to be deported back to the South Pacific island nation.
“It was the worst day of my life,” said Adi Gucake, a junior at the high school.
Adi Gucake, her siblings and three cousins have been separated from their parents since the day they were arrested. The parents, Josaia and Grace Gucake, Lavenia and Jona Yacatini, and Sivoki and Atama Nawaciono, were being held in Tacoma by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement until they depart.
The children will go back to Fiji with their parents. They are staying with their uncle, Saveneca Gucake, Josaia Gucake’s brother, in Lynnwood until the final order comes to leave. They were told it could be as soon as Tuesday, but as of Wednesday the word still had not come.
The kids had never been separated from their parents before.
“It’s been really difficult. It’s hard,” said Roko Gucake, 10, who attends College Place Elementary School.
Other family members, including Saveneca Gucake, are also scheduled to be deported. He has paid a $2,500 bond that gives him a reprieve, but it could end at any time, he said.
Josaia Gucake, 47, was a senator in Fiji and a member of the Multicultural Party, Saveneca Gucake said. In 2000, native Fijians staged a coup based on opposition to the government, which at the time was dominated by non-native Indians, he said.
Josaia Gucake is a native Fijian, but as a member of the government, he was targeted, his family said.
“They came to his place searching for him to be killed,” said Joe Nawaciono of Edmonds, 18, Josaia Gucake’s nephew.
No one knows what will happen to Josaia Gucake when the family returns to Fiji.
“That’s why I’m worried,” Adi Gucake said.
Josaia Gucake applied for political asylum, but in July 2002 was denied, said Greg Gagne, a spokesman for the Executive Office of Immigration Review near Washington, D.C. For privacy reasons, Gagne said, he could not discuss the basis for the decision. Family members recalled only that they were told Josaia Gucake did not make a strong enough case.
At the time, Josaia Gucake was offered the chance to return to Fiji voluntarily without being deported, Gagne said. Deportees are often not allowed to return to the United States for 10 years or more, while those who voluntarily leave may return sooner, he said.
Josaia Gucake declined the offer, appealed the decision and, in December, the appeal was denied.
While here, Josaia Gucake became senior pastor at Christ Faith Tabernacle Church in Lynnwood, a church attended by a number of Fijians. He received training as a paralegal and helped other Fijians with their immigration paperwork, family members said.
Grace Gucake, 40, worked as a caregiver for the elderly, a common occupation for Fijians, Savaneca Gucake said.
“That’s us,” he said. “It’s in us.”
Joe Nawaciono has been volunteering at the World Concern charity in Lynnwood, going to school and working at a party rental business.
“We do good things for the community,” he said.
The children have enjoyed attending school here, they said.
“They are kind, gentle and beautiful people,” said Chris Kratz, administrative secretary at Edmonds-Woodway High School.
While the kids are anxious to see their parents again, they’d rather stay in the United States.
“I would rather stay here, because you have more opportunity, better education” than in Fiji, Roko Gucake said.
They’ve made a lot of friends at school and will miss them terribly, they said.
“When I told them I’m leaving, they were sad and started crying,” said Liku Gucake, 13, who attends College Place Middle School.
Saveneca Gucake has had to take time off from his pest control job to take care of the children.
“The bills are coming in, the rent is coming in,” said Joe Nawaciono, who has been unable to work because of a broken ankle.
The family wondered why all the parents had to be arrested – why some would not be allowed to work to help support the family in the interim.
“I don’t have an answer for that, except that we don’t leave the children unattended,” said Mike Milne, spokesman for the Seattle office of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which carries out deportation orders.
“We try to minimize the disruption as much as we can,” he said. “The bottom line is these people are in the country illegally, and we’re doing everything we can to carry out the judge’s orders.”
Ratu Gucake, 67, Josaia and Saveneca Gucake’s father, came down from his home in Vancouver, B.C., when he heard the news.
“The ones that suffer are the children; they are innocent,” he said. “For the children to suffer is not right.”
Reporter Bill Sheets: 425-339-3439 or sheets@heraldnet.com.
Barton Glasser / The Herald
Saveneca Gucake (left) cries as he prays with his niece Adi Gucake and other family and friends Tuesday night for the well-being of family members who are in a federal detention center in Tacoma facing deportation to Fiji.
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