KAILUA-KONA — The Waimea family and community man facing deportation was given 45 days to take care of his affairs before he has to leave Hawaii Island.
Graham Ellis, who has been living on the Big Island for the last 36 years, will be allowed to leave without supervision back to his home country of England after reaching an agreement with the Department of Homeland Security, both Ellis and his attorney said Wednesday.
“I’m feeling really relieved, like I’m waking up from a bad dream,” said Ellis, who had turned himself in to authorities on Oahu after agents notified him last week he was being deported. “I’m really happy to be home, at least temporarily.”
Dena Ellis, Graham’s wife and a U.S. citizen, said the extra time is a blessing and allows the family to spend the better part of the summer together. Graham had faced immediate deportation after turning himself in.
“He’s not looking over his shoulder anymore,” Dena Ellis said of fearing the day when immigration officials came calling. “Now we can relax and enjoy the rest of the time we have together.”
Ellis had planned to return to England. His mother is aging and Ellis has leukemia.
Ellis said he’d expected to be deported eventually after President Donald Trump took office and introduced stricter immigration enforcement policy, but the expediency of the process as soon as authorities made contact caught Ellis and his family off guard.
The 45-day allotment gives the family time to tidy up their affairs as they prepare to separate, at least temporarily, and say goodbye to friends.
“I’d like to say how much I appreciate the community support for me and my family,” Ellis said of the more than 100 letters they received after word of his pending departure was reported in West Hawaii Today on Tuesday.
“I was hoping to get double (the time),” Ellis added. “But I’ll take what I get and appreciate that.”
The circus performing family is well known in the North Hawaii community, as Ellis instructs camps, including one they’ll be able to keep scheduled this July on Kauai. He’s also been involved in several service organizations. Ellis said when he goes back to England he’ll apply for immigration visas for his family.
Ellis last entered the country under the visa waiver program in 2002. By staying in the country longer than the program alloted, Ellis had committed a civil offense. He never applied for lawful permanent residence despite being married to an American because of complications from a nonviolent marijuana-related offense in England 30 years ago that has since been expunged from his record, his immigration attorney Kevin Block told West Hawaii Today.
The Department of Homeland Security couldn’t be reached for comment late Wednesday. But Block said immigration enforcement officers treated the family with dignity and respect.
“They care about family relationships,” he said.
The agreement is effective from Tuesday, so Ellis will return July 20.