Deported Albanian woman going back to US after 20 months

COHOCTAH TOWNSHIP, Mich., July 12 – Nearly two years after she was deported to her native Albania, a Michigan woman is returning home.
Gjystina Hines, who left Albania with her family when she was 12, has received permission from U.S. Immigration officials to return to the United States, the Livingston County Daily Press & Argus reported last week.
Hines, a 2002 graduate of Brighton High School who had lived in Howell, must now obtain a visa and could be home within a week or two.
“I cried,” her mother-in-law, Tracey Hines of Cohoctah Township, told the Howell newspaper after learning of the decision.
Gjystina Hines was pregnant when she was deported in November 2007 because her father had entered the country illegally. Her husband, Clint, and their son Dylan traveled with her, but returned to Michigan after Dylan developed health problems.
Her 8-month-old son died Dec. 24 from complications from surgery for a minor birth defect.
“It was kind of like you worked so hard to get something,” said Tracey Hines. “Basically, she’s coming home without her baby — kind of bittersweet.”
The baby’s body was flown to the United States in January, but permission for Gjystina Hines to return to the country didn’t come in time and she couldn’t attend the March funeral and burial of her son.
Hines worked at Lucas Coney Island in Brighton, and employees there say it’s wonderful news that she’ll be able to return