"Say hi Mommy," said Eyobed Yosef.

"Hi Mommy," said his daughter.

If she's watching this story on-line from Eritrea, this is as close to her kids as Asmeret Yosef will have been, since early August.

That's when she was taken into custody as an illegal alien in Detroit, after trying to cross into Canada, to escape deportation.

A sudden turn of events, considering just four months earlier, Yosef had paperwork from the U.S. government, telling her she had just one step to go before receiving her green card.

But that paperwork was wrong and the government says the correct paperwork takes precedence.

Now, Asmeret is back in Eritrea; a tiny African country sandwiched between Ethiopia and the Sudan.

"She's not OK," said Eyobed Yosef, Asmeret's husband, "she's up and down, emotionally. She says she cannot sleep."

Asmeret's husband Eyobed is still in Madison, raising their two kids on his own, for the time being.

Eyobed Yosef says his wife's deportation was something they've been bracing for since August, but he final decision came within hours of her departure, catching Asmeret and her family by surprise.

"She didn't clean up, she didn't take a shower, she didn't do her hair," said Eyobed, "she was crying and that's how she left."

Now, the Yosef's must decide where they will raise their kids.

According to their former attorney, Asmeret Yosef cannot apply to come back to America for 10 years, but Eyobed says they're not giving up.

Still trying to work with politicians on the local, state and national level, the Yosef's are holding out hope.

And they're asking for all the help they can get.

"You guys out there," said Eyobed, "just keep praying ... for my wife to come home to see the kids."