A North Brunswick family is celebrating being reunited following detainment stemming from an almost 20-year struggle with immigration laws.

Earlier this year, Atanas Entchev and son Enislav were detained for 65 days at the Essex County Correctional Facility with other immigrants due to ongoing issues stemming from Entchev's visa.

They were released on Dec. 8, following a large online and letter writing campaign asking for their freedom.

20 years ago, Entchev came to the United States after being awarded a fellowship by Rutgers University to perform architectural research.

At the time, Entchev was given a non-immigrant visa and sponsored by the U.S. government to come work at the University.

After two years and the arrival of his wife, Mayia and Enislav in the U.S., Entchev said he tried to convert his status to immigrant, resulting in an "18-year-old ordeal that ended with our detention."

According to Change.org, the website that hosted the online petition that gathered more than 1,300 signatures asking for the Entchevs' freedom, Entchev is known as an expert in geographic information systems.

He owns Entchev GIS Architects, based in New Brunswick, which Entechev described as an operating system similar to Google Maps, but with more information available to the user.

"After obtaining an exchange visitor visa, the family applied for asylum from Bulgaria but were denied. Atanas was then approved for a visa as an Outstanding Professor/Researcher but received faulty legal advice that led to the case not being reopened," according to a Dec. 14 release from Change.org.

According to Entchev, on the morning of Oct. 5, Homeland Security agents showed up at the door of the family home with a warrant.

Mayia Entchev had already left for work, but Entchev and Enislav were at the house.

"I knew what this was all about," Entchev said. "I told them that we had a little bit more process to go through (but) in the eyes of a law we had reached the end of the road."

Entchev said that during the 18 years in which he tried to change his immigration status, his status in the country was legal, but in "temporary status."

Despite the legal proceedings, Entchev and his son were taken into custody and shipped to the Newark detainment facility. They remained there for 65 days. 

Accommodations were scarce, but still better than prison facilities, he said.

Each room had a pay phone that made only outgoing calls, and the facility had two television rooms and a library with books discarded from public libraries.

Worst of all, Entchev said he felt bad about how his decisions resulted in his son being caught up in the ordeal.

Atanas said that Enislav was born in Bulgaria and came to the U.S. when he was two. He has no memory of the country of his birth.

"If anyone didn't belong there, he was him," Entchev said. "He had no say in any decisions I made for him."

Despite being imprisoned, Entchev said the two were able to bond over the two months.

"Ironically, it was a great time for us," he said.

While the Entchev men were imprisoned, Mayia started a petition on the activism website Change.org.

As of Dec. 15, the petition has received 1,361 signatures of support. Additionally, 100 handwritten letters supporting the Entchev family were written by supporters, which include Congressman Rush Holt and Sen. Robert Menendez.

Entchev said that he does not know for certain if the petition led to his release, as Homeland Security officials were very scarce with details. However, a petition had been submitted on their behalf about two weeks into their detention that was denied.

The petition with the signatures, lawmakers' support and more supporting documents was approved, he said.

The family has been granted a one-year temporary stay, in which Entchev said they will continue to change their residency status, which will continue to be an arduous task.

Entchev said that there are other families in much more complicated situations than his own, and the legal process for being recognized as a U.S. resident is very complicated and hard to navigate.

"I really hopeful that the people at the top will recognize that this is a problem that needs to be addressed," he said.