After living in the United States for more than five decades, Albanian refugee Deda Malota Margilaj has received a full pardon from Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, a decision expected to end deportation proceedings that threatened to separate him from his family and remove him from the only country he has called home since he was 17 years old.
Margilaj, now 74, arrived in the United States alone as a refugee from communist Albania in 1970. He settled in Detroit, where he built a new life, became a green card holder, started a small construction business, married, raised five children and is now the grandfather of eight grandchildren.
His legal troubles date back to 1975, when he shot and killed a man at a Detroit gas station after, according to his attorneys, the man had first shot Margilaj’s brother in the stomach. His lawyers have long argued that the shooting was a clear act of self-defense.
The first trial ended with a hung jury. However, in 1978, a second jury convicted Margilaj of second-degree murder. He was sentenced to seven to fifteen years in prison but was released after serving approximately four and a half years because of good behavior.
For more than 40 years following his release, Margilaj maintained a clean record, built a successful life, and remained an active member of his community. Despite that, the decades-old conviction later became the basis for federal immigration authorities to initiate removal proceedings against him.
On July 2, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer granted him a full pardon, erasing the nearly 50-year-old conviction under state law. According to the Perlmutter Center for Legal Justice at Cardozo Law, which represented Margilaj, the pardon clears the legal obstacle that had placed him at risk of deportation and is expected to allow his immigration case to be terminated.
“All I ever wanted was to stay with my family in the country I love,” Margilaj said after learning of the decision, thanking everyone who supported his case over the years.
Joshua Dubin, executive director of the Perlmutter Center for Legal Justice, said the case demonstrates how executive clemency can correct the lasting consequences of decades-old convictions, especially when someone has spent decades living a law-abiding life after completing their sentence.
