Southwest Michigan restaurateur Ibrahim Parlak, who has been fighting deportation for years and accumulated some friends in high places during his battle, fears he may be a sitting duck for Immigration officials during the holidays. An agreement allowing him to stay expires on Christmas Eve and his friends fear that it may have been a government ploy to leave him vulnerable when it would be difficult to muster the support he needs to stay in this country. Parlack was granted asylum here as a political refugee from Turkey. Now the very politics that earned him that status has shifted against him because of changing Middle Eastern politics. Congressman Fred Upton is still in his corner, but U.S. Senator Carl Levin has retired and neither Debbie Stabenow nor Gary Peters has taken up the fight on Parlak’s behalf.
