NEW YORK, NY — The Perlmutter Center for Legal Justice at Cardozo Law (PCLJ) announced Tuesday that its client, Deda Malota Margilaj, was granted a full pardon by Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer on July 2, 2026. The pardon erases Mr. Margilaj's nearly fifty-year-old conviction and clears the way for the termination of the removal proceedings that threatened to deport him from the only country he has called home since childhood. Mr. Margilaj, 74, who arrived in the United States as a teenage refugee in 1970 and has been an engaged member of his community for over 50 years, can now remain with his wife, five children, eight grandchildren, and vast extended family.

 The Perlmutter Center's full press release is available here.