Submitted photo Amer “Al” Adi said he “can’t wait to spend time with my daughters and beautiful grandson” now that he’s returned to the United States. Here, he was greeted by family at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport. U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan, D-Howland, said he spoke to Adi when he came into the United States from Mexico.

YOUNGSTOWN — Former Youngstown businessman Amer “Al” Adi has returned to the United States and reunited with family in the Mahoning Valley.

Adi had a high-profile battle with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials that ended with his deportation to Jordan almost three years ago.

Adi, the former owner of Downtown Circle Convenience and Deli and Circle Hookah, downtown, had been in Amman ever since. On Thursday, his daughter, Lina Adi, confirmed her father has returned home.

According to Lina, her father is “so happy and grateful to be home.”

“I can’t wait to spend time with my daughters and beautiful grandson,” he said.

A social media posting shows a video of a family reunion Wednesday night in a concourse of Cleveland Hopkins International Airport.

U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan, D-Howland, said he spoke to Adi a couple of nights ago when he came into the United States from Mexico and “we’re absolutely thrilled to have him back.

“We’ve got a great human being back in our community — a business leader, a job creator — and I’m just so thrilled for him to be reunited with his kids and now his grandkids.”

Ryan said he is “super excited” to have him back. “We’ll continue to press to make sure that Al can stay here, but this is great news.

“There was an opportunity to get him back into the country, I think we’ve still got some work to do with making sure he can stay here. But, just to have him here, I think, is a reflection of some more common-sense immigration policies in the country now, and we’re going to continue to work to make sure that he can stay here.”

The family referred all legal questions about his return to his attorney, David Leopold of Cleveland. A phone call and email to Leopold has not been returned.

Prior to his deportation to Jordan, Adi lived in the U.S. for 39 years. He was jailed in January 2018 after an immigration status hearing. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement would not hear an appeal, according to newspaper archives.

The family sold Downtown Circle Convenience and Deli and Circle Hookah shortly after his deportation.

Congress requested Adi’s case be reviewed, but U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement ignored the appeal.

Fidaa Musleh, his wife, left to join Adi permanently in Jordan.

In February 2019, Al Adi wrote a letter thanking the people of Youngstown who supported him: “To the hundreds and thousands of people who stood and showed their support through demonstrations in the street or by putting on events in local churches and community centers, or by speaking to the media … Thank you to our community for really coming together. It was really the silver lining of the nightmare.”

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