WDET News
- Michigan Kurd Parlak, Facing Deportation, Granted Work Permit
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May 15, 2008GeneralA Kurdish immigrant who says he must sell his Michigan restaurant because he is not sure if he might be deported…has been granted a new work permit.
His case made national news after thousands of people in Michigan started a legal fund to fight his deportation.
WDET’s Quinn Klinefelter has more…
Immigrant Ibrahim Parlak has operated the Kurdish-themed Café Gulistan in the Lake Michigan resort town of Harbert for more than a decade.
But federal authorities ruled Parlak a threat…because he had allegedly lied about serving time in a Turkish prison before arriving in Michigan…and had been a member of a group known as the P-P-K – which the U-S government identified as a terrorist organization…years AFTER Parlak had started his café in Harbert.
The government ordered Parlak deported…
But thousands of people living in and around Harbert said he had been a productive citizen…and created a legal defense fund for him…paid for by donations and items including “Free Ibrahim” t-shirts and coffee.
While Parlak awaited a decision on an appeal of the deportation order – which still has not been decided -- his work permit expired.
That…combined with the stress of waiting for a verdict…forced Parlak to put his café up for sale.
Now…however…the government HAS renewed his work permit.
So Parlak says he may NOT have to sell the café.
After all…Parlak says…now that he has his work permit back…he needs to work somewhere – it might as well be at his own restaurant.