A Polish-born doctor detained by immigration officials after living in the United States for nearly 40 years is set to appear via video conference Wednesday in federal court in Detroit for a bond hearing.
Dr. Lukasz R. Niec was detained by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement in mid-January.
Niec was 5 years old when his parents fled Poland in 1979, according to his sister, Iwona Niec Villaire. He received a temporary green card and later became a lawful permanent resident, she said.
The Michigan doctor came under scrutiny from immigration authorities due to 18 police encounters, including a child abuse allegation, an ICE official told CNN. Those claims were investigated by police, and weren’t substantiated.
Niec could be deported to Poland — a country he’s never known — and his family has launched a legal fight to keep him in the United States and bring him home.
His attorney, Russell Abrutyn, said the Michigan State Police investigated the child abuse allegation and found it to be without merit.
“We expect the child abuse investigation to be dismissed, too,” he said.
Michigan State Police said they investigated an allegation of child abuse against Niec last year and turned their findings over to the county prosecutor’s office.
A charging request form filed with the Kalamazoo County prosecuting attorney says police found insufficient evidence and determined there was “no reasonable likelihood of conviction.”
Niec’s wife, Rachelle Burkart-Niec, also told CNN affiliate WWMT that the case had no merit.
Niec entered the United States lawfully, ICE said, but he was found “amenable to removal proceedings as a result of two 1992 state convictions for malicious destruction of property and receiving stolen property, both of which are crimes involving moral turpitude.”
The statement defined a crime of moral turpitude as “a crime against a person (such as assault), fraud, perjury, robbery, theft and bribery.” A crime of moral turpitude can be either a felony or a misdemeanor, it said.
Niec was 17 when he committed those offenses, and one of the charges had been expunged from his record after he completed a youth training program, his family said.
Niec became a doctor, specializing in internal medicine for Bronson Healthcare Group in Kalamazoo.
ICE arrested him on January 16 over “administrative immigration violations,” the agency said.
