A little after two weeks in federal detention, an Upstate Medical researcher has been released on a $7,000 bond and is now back to work.

Ibrahim Topkaya was detained by federal immigration officials on Sept. 6, after taking a wrong turn at the U.S.-Canada border near the Lewiston Bridge when he was taking his mother to visit Niagara Falls.

“I said, hey officer, I don’t want to go to Canada, how can I turn back and go to the Buffalo side,” Topkaya said in an interview. “We went to the border, I had the paper documents, we made the return and they told me that I need to go to the immigration office on the border.”

Topkaya came to the United States three years ago to escape violence in his home country of Turkey, where he worked as a medical doctor. A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said in a statement that Topkaya overstayed his welcome and that a pending asylum application and valid work permit “does not confer legal status in the U.S.”

“I said, I came here on a tourist visa, and I have a pending asylum case, and they said, ‘oh, it should be good. You should be free to go in a couple of minutes. We’re just going to check your status online in the system,’” Topkaya said. 

However, that would not be the case. Topkaya was held in the border patrol station near Lewiston Bridge for three days, but he said his experience there was pleasant. 

“They were very sorry for me, and I was behaving respectfully with them, and they were behaving respectfully with me as well,” Topkaya said. “Even when I was leaving, they came to say goodbye to me.” 

Topkaya said one of the officers even brought him a Turkish Quran to read while he was in the border patrol station. From there, he was taken to the immigration detention facility in Batavia, where he spent the majority of his time in federal detention. 

“It was a long time, 20 days. More than two weeks,” he said. 

When he arrived at the facility, Topkaya said the detainees separated themselves into different groups, but he made it his goal to make friends with them. 

“I felt a coldness between them, so what I did was offer them my food. If we got four meatballs, I offered up three,” Topkaya said. “On the first day, they said ‘no.’ The second day, they said ‘no,’ but on the third day, they said ‘yes.’” 

While he was in the detention facility, Topkaya primarily spent his time reading research articles that his friends and family sent him.

Mobin Karimi (left) and Topkaya stand for a portrait. (Emily Kenny/Spectrum News 1)

Mobin Karimi, who is now Topkaya’s immigration sponsor, works as a medical doctor and researcher at Upstate Medical University. Karimi has known Topkaya for the past two years and worked closely with him on some of the research he has done. 

“I felt so sorry for his mom because she wants to come spend time with her son, but unfortunately, things happen, so we’re really happy that he is back. We will support him, we will stand by him, whatever help he needs, we will be there for him. Brahim is a really good person, a dedicated young man and [has] a great future ahead of him,” Karimi said. 

Karimi, an immigrant from Afghanistan who is now a U.S. citizen, said that when Topkaya’s lawyer asked if he would sponsor Topkaya, he did not hesitate. 

“I always find him with great character, a very humble guy and a good scientist and those are the qualities that you cannot find among people. Those are the things that stood out a lot,” he said. 

Topkaya volunteers with two food pantries in two different local churches. He said prior to his detention he had asked the manager of one of the pantries what items they need most, and the woman told him baby formula. 

“I got my paycheck the day before I was detained, and I had planned on Sunday to take baby formula to donate to the church, but then I was detained and not able to,” Topkaya said. 

However, now he looks forward to donating baby formula to the church, which he plans to do this week. 

Despite the difficulty he experienced, Topkaya said he met many people and he worries more about them than he does for himself. 

“I am grateful for the experience, even though it was hard, and I’m grateful to have met the people I did,” he said.