Hoping to avoid deportation, a Southgate man has quit his job at a Coney Island and moved into a church in downtown Detroit with his family.
- Metro Detroit man asks for deportation to be delayed so he can care for sick wife
- Southgate man says Immigration is forcing him to leave his seriously ill wife
That's where he's declaring sanctuary as his lawyers continue to fight for him to remain in the US.
January 25 is when Ded Rranxburgaj is supposed to head back to Albania, but for now the church at the corner of Woodward and Adams is home.
“I been here for 17 years to make a life, like everyone try to make a better life,” he says.
And for now, in hopes of avoiding deportation, the church will be home for the Rranburgaj family of four. Specifically an apartment tucked away inside the Central United Methodist Church in downtown Detroit.
Ded and Flora came to America from Albania 17 years ago. They were allowed to stay as they fought for political asylum.
They were denied, but then Flora was diagnosed with M.S. and she was allowed to stay in the US.
Because she can't care for herself is why they say her husband and sole provider was at least, temporarily, allowed to remain. But a few months ago, they say Immigration and Customs Enforcement told them Ded had to go back to Albania.
“I need my husband to take care of me for all my life and I don't know what happened to immigration to deport my husband,” Flora says. “Who is this to take care of me? Who is to take care of my little son?”
A spokesperson for the civilian group Michiganders for Immigration Control and Enforcement says that if someone is not here legally then they're breaking the law and people who break the law are separated from loved ones all the time in prison.
Current ICE policy directs agents to avoid immigration enforcement at what they call sensitive locations, which includes schools and places of worship.
We're told about a hundred people have volunteered to take Flora to doctor appointments and bring them groceries because Ded cannot and will not leave the church.
“It doesn't matter how long can take, I can stay in here,” he says. “Just don't want to leave my wife and kids.”
“We are saying right here and right now, that this family will be protected here in sanctuary,” says Rev. Jill Zundel of the Central Methodist Church. “Will not be pulled apart under our watch and be welcome here until justice is served.”
Living at the church with the couple now is their 24-year-old son, who is in college and for now protected under DACA, and their 15-year-old son, a US citizen.
