A Turkish doctor who works as a researcher at SUNY Upstate Medical University in Syracuse is back at work after spending about three weeks in federal immigration custody following a wrong turn near Niagara Falls.
İbrahim Halil Topkaya, 33, who practiced medicine in Türkiye, had taken his mother — visiting from Türkiye for the first time in three years — to Niagara Falls on Sept. 6. On the way back, heavy traffic led his GPS to reroute him toward the Canadian border at the Lewiston Bridge. Canadian border officials gave him a document stating that he had not entered Canada and was only turning around.
“I said, hey officer, I don’t want to go to Canada, how can I turn back and go to the Buffalo side,” Topkaya told Spectrum News.
“Overstayed,” says DHS; asylum approved, says friend
U.S. Customs and Border Protection encountered Topkaya at the Lewiston Bridge and transferred him to Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody pending removal proceedings. Federal officials said he entered the country legally on June 22, 2023, but overstayed his authorized period. His friend Omar Alsafadi said Topkaya has an approved asylum case, an active work permit and a Social Security number.
Topkaya was held for three days at a Border Patrol station near the bridge and then at the federal immigration detention facility in Batavia. He was released on a $7,000 bond.
“Grateful for the experience”
“They were very sorry for me, and I was behaving respectfully with them, and they were behaving respectfully with me as well,” Topkaya said of the officers. “I am grateful for the experience, even though it was hard, and I’m grateful to have met the people I did.”
Mobin Karimi, a medical doctor and researcher at Upstate Medical University, said: “I felt so sorry for his mom because she wants to come spend time with her son.”
