BERRIEN COUNTY — A Harbert man who has been fighting to stay in America for more than a decade says he's been forced to put his restaurant up for sale. Ibrahim Parlak says his temporary work permit has not been renewed, and his future is now more uncertain than ever.

Parlak broke the news to friends and supporters at Cafe Gulistan Monday night. He built the restaurant 14 years ago, and calls it "one of the toughest decisions" he's ever had to make.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security wants him deported for what it says are ties to a Turkish terrorist group. Parlak has denied the claims for years; the latest in front of a panel of federal judges in Cincinnati last October.

Six months later, that court still has not issued a ruling, and his lawyers say there is no clear indication of when they will. In the meantime, Parlak waits in limbo yet again, facing what could be his toughest challenge yet.

On Monday night, he spent time in the restaurant hugging friends, smiling, and laughing, but the heartbreak was clear on all their faces.

For the last five years, friends and supporters have gathered for potluck suppers, stories, and memories and the restaurant; the evidence of their tight bond worn on T-shirts and mounted on the walls of Cafe Gulistan.

But this potluck felt bittersweet.

"It's tough," said Emily Bettencourt, a friend of Parlak's for more than 12 years. "It's very tough. I'm sad."

"It wasn't an easy decision," Parlak told the group, fighting back tears. "But the important thing is to do the right thing."

The reaction from his supporters was clear.

"There's an enormous injustice being done here," said Fred Lighthall, another of Parlak's longtime friends. "We're just indignant that it goes on."

When Parlak's green card was revoked, he was granted a temporary work permit. But it expired six months ago, and despite the face that he applied for an extension well in advance of its expiration, his application still has not been ruled on.

"At this point, the odd thing is, I don't know what it means," he said. "If I don't have a work permit, how am I going to run a business? How am I going to manage a business?"

It's left him, he says, with only one option. Failing to put the restaurant on the market could leave him open to further legal problems, and he worries that could complicate his case to become a permanent U.S. resident.

Still, the doors aren't closed quite yet, and Parlak says he isn't certain when they might be for good. But regardless of when, and if they do, he and his supporters say they'll never lose the sense of friendship and community they've fostered there.

"Whatever you do Ibrahim, you're our friend," said Tom Hackley, evoking applause from the crowd of about 20 people. "We might lose a restaurant, but we won't lose a friend."

And Parlak says that's all that really matters to him.

"Just having that with me and always around me, it's keeping me going," he said.

Still, there's no denying the future remains uncertain for Parlak, and this latest twist, may be the hardest yet. He calls the prospect of losing all he's worked for for 14 years "agonizing."

"That's the most difficult part," he said. "Not knowing when, and how is it going to come. I just want this nightmare to end."

Still, amidst the wafts of curry and spices, there is an air of simple comfort inside Cafe Gulistan, for a simple reason:

"No matter what happens, this tradition is not going away," Parlak said, pointing to the potluck dishes, and evoking more applause from the crowd. "Even if we have to open a tent somewhere!"

Still, Parlak and his supporters know it won't be an easy road. Ibrahim's brother Huseyin Parlak was deported last year. And while his lawyers will ask that he be allowed to return to the United States at an federal appeals hearing on April 29th, Ibrahim and others are worried that little will change.

They also grow more worried by the day, as news of that same court's ruling on Ibrahim's case remains elusive.

A bill sponsored by Rep. Fred Upton (R-St. Joseph) and Sen. Carl Levin (D-Michigan) that would prevent Parlak from being deported by making him a "permanent U.S. resident" has stalled out in Congress. However, it is still pending, and he cannot be deported until it is resolved.