DETROIT, May 14 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Huseyin Parlak, brother of Ibrahim Parlak, was abruptly arrested by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and deported to Turkey today while on a scheduled visit to the offices of Immigration & Customs Enforcement in Detroit.
His deportation followed a denial of his motion to stay the order of removal by the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals - the same court that ordered Ibrahim deported. Ibrahim is in the process of appealing his deportation decision.
Customarily DHS provides families with 72 hours notice before a deportation occurs. But in Huseyin's case, no notice was given raising questions whether DHS broke its own customary notification rules.
Huseyin's lawyer, Robert Carpenter, was unable to confer with his client, as he received a copy of the decision after Huseyin had been put on the plane. What will happen when he arrives in Turkey is unclear.
"I'm just shocked that Huseyin is gone and so upset that I didn't even have the chance to say good bye. He could have at least had the opportunity to talk to his lawyer. He's not a criminal. He's not trying to run away. How can this happen in America?" Ibrahim Parlak said.
At Huseyin's visit to Detroit in April following the announcement of deportation proceedings, he was told by immigration officials that they would not proceed with the deportation, but would allow his case to be resolved in the courts. At that time they re-issued his work permit and asked for his passport, which he gave them. "We feel that they did this to put his mind at rest, and now we feel we have been tricked," Ibrahim Parlak added.
Granted a student visa in 2004, Huseyin applied for a change of status to political asylum when the Turkish government re-opened the criminal case of separatism against his brother. Husseyin's asylum request was denied by the Board of Immigration Appeals.
Ibrahim was granted asylum in 1992 based on his disclosure of political involvement in Turkey, and subsequent imprisonment by the Turkish government on the charge of separatism.
Ibrahim was taken into custody by the Department of Homeland Security in 2004 on the grounds that his activism for Kurdish rights in Turkey in the 1980s make him a threat to national security. Ibrahim has since been released, is free on bond while he appeals his right to remain in the United States to the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals.
Friends of Ibrahim
