"January 26 [2025] is a day I'll never forget."
It was a Sunday morning, and Latisha Eigbe was ready to get the day started with her four kids and husband, Omolybagbe Respect Eigbe.
Omolybagbe had just finished his night shift at Lactalis American.
"He loved that job...He is such a dedicated hard worker," said Latisha Eigbe. "Very loving, caring and compassionate person."
As they were just waking up, there was a knock on their apartment door.
"It was a Sunday morning, so I said 'Who would be knocking this early in the morning on a Sunday?' I opened the door, and it was ICE," said Latisha.
At least five U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents were at the door.
"I said one moment, and closed the door," Latisha explained.
Omolybagbe then answered the door, and his wife began recording the interaction on her phone. You can watch the video above.
One agent asked the Eigbe's if they could come in. Once inside, they had a conversation with the couple about his immigration status. Minutes later, Omolybagbe, a 40-year-old man from Nigeria, was told he was under arrest.
"Are you serious?" Latisha is heard asking in the video.
"When you heard those words, what was that like for you?" I asked Latisha.
"My whole world was just crumbling down, it was just complete utter disbelief," she answered. "He has no criminal record, never been in prison."
Latisha said her husband was the sole provider for the family as she battles a chronic illness that impacts her lungs. She is looking to get back to work to provide for her family, but said it's been a struggle in the meantime.
"My husband don’t deserve to be deported...I don't know what else to do," said Latisha. "I've cried all I can cry. Prayed all I can pray, and it's like what do you do next?"
I went to the couple's apartment and met their nine-month-old daughter Ehinomen. I also spoke with Omolybagbe's stepchildren 13-year-old Alana, 10-year-old Aiden and six-year-old Adrian.
"Are funds running low?" I asked Latisha.
"Very. I haven't paid rent for this month. I don't know what I'm going to do, we have to be out by May 31...My son came to me, and said 'Mommy I'm tired of being hungry.'"
She said her husband had just gone through his supervision check-in a few weeks before his arrest, and has been following all protocols as his I-130remains pending. She said he has been allowed to work in the U.S. for years.
A GoFundMe has been set up for the family.
An ICE spokesperson told 7 News :
"U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested Nigerian national Omolybagbe Eigbe, Jan. 26, during a targeted enforcement action in Blasdell, New York, for being in violation of U.S. immigration laws. U.S. Customs and Border Protection encountered Eigbe March 23, 2016, at the San Ysidro Port of Entry in California, deemed him inadmissible to the U.S. and placed him into removal proceedings. An immigration judge ordered Eigbe removed from the United States to Nigeria on May 24, 2019. Eigbe filed an appeal with the Board of Immigration Appeals, but the BIA denied it, Sept. 21, 2022. Eigbe is currently detained at the Buffalo Federal Detention Facility in Batavia, New York, and is pending removal from the United States.
U.S. immigration laws allow aliens to pursue relief from removal; however, Mr. Eigbe, who was afforded all due process, is now subject to that final order of removal.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is protecting the homeland through the arrest and removal of those who undermine the safety of our communities and the integrity of our immigration laws, to include those who illegally re-enter the country after being removed and those who have been ordered removed by a federal immigration judge. "
"My husband don’t deserve to be deported," said Latisha. "My husband is a very hard-working man, pays taxes every year, just as I do as an American-born citizen."
While at the Eigbe home, Latisha showed me the American flag hanging on a wall in their living room. Latisha said her husband loves the American flag.
"He got up to go to church, he came home from work, he don’t run the streets, he's not a criminal," said Latisha. "He's a very loving and supportive husband. He do not deserve to be deported."
Latisha hopes her husband can return home and have his citizenship approved.
"The things I am grateful for is that my children have one citizen parent that can stay here, and fight," said Latisha. "I will fight for him until the death of me, because he is so deserving to be here. An honest upstanding, Christian man...I will fight until the death of me for him to be here."
Omolybagbe is currently being held at the Buffalo Federal Detention Center in Batavia.
