Update: Michigan hospital fights ICE for release of jailed doctor
KALAMAZOO, MI -- After working a full week, Bronson HealthCare Dr. Lukasz R. Niec, M.D., had a day off. When Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents appeared at his door on the morning of Tuesday, Jan. 16, his plans changed.
Now, family, friends and colleagues are working to support his effort to stay in the United States, fearing deportation, as Niec waits in a jail cell.
Niec, 43, a doctor at Bronson HealthCare who came from Poland to the U.S. as a child, is being detained at the Calhoun County Jail, according to his wife, Rachelle.
His wife, while working at Bronson Battle Creek on Tuesday, Jan. 16, got a call from her husband. He was in jail.
"I initially thought it was a prank," she said. "I didn't think this could happen to us."
Niec is a citizen of Poland with a permanent Green Card, his wife said.
She said she believes the arrest stemmed from two unrelated misdemeanor convictions when he was in high school, one of destruction of property less than $100 and the other of receiving stolen property. The most recent conviction was in 1992, she said.
They are offenses a U.S. citizen would get a slap on the wrist for, she said.
"He pleaded guilty," she said. "He was not notified it could ever be used in a deportation."
She believes deportation is unlikely, but so is bail because of the two unrelated convictions.
Kalamazoo County court records show Niec pleaded guilty to a 2008 operating impaired by liquor offense in Kalamazoo County. He completed probation, and the conviction was set aside, the plea withdrawn and the case dismissed, as part of a plea agreement.
He was charged with domestic violence in 2013 and a jury found him not guilty after a trial, record show.
He has traffic violations including speeding and careless driving, court records show.
A spokesman for the ICE Detroit Field Office did not respond to requests for information about Niec Thursday and Friday, besides to say he was checking on the case.
Bronson HealthCare Spokeswoman Carolyn Wyllie declined to comment Friday. Hospital colleagues, meanwhile, have written an immigration judge on behalf of Niec.
At the age of 5, Niec immigrated to the Bloomfield Hills area with his mother, father and sister, his wife said.
He graduated from Western Michigan University and went to medical school at Ross University School of Medicine in Dominica.
"There are no documentation issues," his wife said. "We've been married. He has not done the citizenship route yet."
A Green Card, or a Permanent Resident Card, allows a person to live and work permanently in the United States. Adults with Green Cards must carry them at all times, according to ICE.
Rachelle Burkart-Niec believes her husband being detained is wrong because the misdemeanor convictions on his record happened 20-plus years ago, she said.
"He's taken care of the people of the U.S. as a physician, he's taken care of the people of this community, this state," she said. "After all this time, when is somebody finally free?"
"Just because this guy was born in another country, it shouldn't mean that 20-plus years later he can be taken out of his home on a Tuesday."
His job could be in jeopardy if he is detained long enough or deported, his wife said. He remained jailed Friday afternoon.
The couple met while working at Bronson, and they've been in a relationship for about four years. They married in July 2016, she said.
They have one daughter each and they are planning to have another child together, Rachelle Burkart-Niec said.
"It's just scary to think we can be broken apart," she said.
Lukasz Niec's daughter went to her mother's house after Niec was detained, Rachelle Burkart-Niec said, while she had to call a neighbor to pick up her daughter from school and get her to volleyball practice that day.
Her daughter is scared what will happen to him, she said.
"It's lonely," she said. "You're sitting at the house waiting for your husband to call you from jail. And you're normal citizens."
The timing is also bad because the hospitals are short of physicians because of influenza season and the amount of respiratory cases, she said.
Her husband is someone who wants to go back to work, someone who would take 20 shifts in the next month, she said. He also makes schedules for physicians.
"He's an excellent citizen, an excellent physician. He's well respected and well liked," colleague Penny Rathburn said. "He's not a threat to our society."
Several colleagues wrote letters addressed to an immigration judge in support of Niec. They were being printed on Bronson letterhead Friday to be sent out, Rathburn said.
"The consensus about his character is overwhelming with no single complaint I have ever heard from anyone over 10 years," Kwsai Al-Rahhal, M.D. wrote.
"He is loving, caring and respectful. I have seen how he treats my own family and my kids love 'uncle Lucas.' I truly hope you give him the chance to know him," Al-Rahhal wrote.
Another colleague, Jose Angelo L. De Leon, M.D., called Niec an inspiration and a mentor. Niec stepped up to work extra hours during shortages, he wrote.
"I cannot say enough about his work ethic and his service to our community," he wrote.
The family is unsure how long he will be detained. His wife said they are hoping an attorney will help him bond out so he can return to work and his life.