DETROIT -- Federal authorities on Friday
released a Kurdish immigrant who had been jailed for
10 months while he appeals his deportation on
terrorism charges.
Ibrahim Parlak walked out of a Department of
Homeland Security building with his 7-year-old
daughter and other family, friends and supporters.
"It feels great," Parlak said. "I came to this
country seeking freedom and I got it."
U.S. District Judge Avern Cohn ruled May 20 that
Parlak, 43, should be freed on $50,000 bond while
Parlak appeals an immigration judge's December order
to deport him to Turkey. Cohn noted Parlak's strong
community ties in the Lake Michigan resort town of
Harbert, where he lives and owns a restaurant.
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Carlos Osorio / Associated Press
Ibrahim Parlak
is seen with his daughter, Livia Parlak, the child's
mother, Michele Gazzolo, left, and attorney, Jay
Marhoefer, right. |
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Parlak was taken from the Calhoun County Jail in
Battle Creek to the government office in Detroit,
where he was released after his attorney, Jay
Marhoefer, posted bond.
After picking Parlak up the Detroit, the group was
to head back to Harbert for a party at Parlak's
restaurant.
"They have tested my patience and my courage but not
my commitment to America," Parlak said. "I am
thankful that in America we have a justice system to
correct mistakes."
In his May 20 ruling, Cohn praised Parlak as a model
immigrant and questioned the government's motives.
But U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on
Friday issued a statement from its Washington office
that twice referred to Parlak as a terrorist.
"The release of terrorist Ibrahim Parlak into the
community is in compliance with a federal district
judge's order, but it does not change the fact that
an immigration judge has found Parlak deportable
under our nation's immigration laws," the statement
said.
The agency said it would continue defending against
Parlak's appeal of the immigration judge's ruling,
and would "consider seeking authorization" to appeal
Cohn's order to the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of
Appeals.
The government wants to deport Parlak, who was
granted asylum in 1992, because of his past ties to
the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, in Turkey. The
U.S. State Department classified the PKK as a
terrorist group in 1997.
The Department of Homeland Security says Parlak did
not disclose important details about his separatist
activities in his original asylum application and
omitted his conviction in Turkey from subsequent
immigration forms.
Parlak's supporters deny he was involved in
violence. His lawyers point out that the Turkish
security court system that convicted him has since
been abolished because of international pressure.
Human rights groups say the courts relied on
confessions extracted by torture.
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