Shovgi Huseynov, a research scientist at UB’s Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, has been released from a detainment facility run by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Michigan on Monday, Feb. 2 and is back in Buffalo, per a video posted to his Facebook page and confirmed by university officials.
Siana McLean-McDonald, Huseynov’s immigration attorney, told WIVB that Huseynov, a native of Azerbaijan, was driving for Lyft in Buffalo on Thursday, Jan. 15 and accidentally took the exit on a roundabout on the west side towards the Peace Bridge and Canada. He tried to turn around before the bridge, but was stopped and arrested by border patrol and handed over to ICE.
Huseynov was held at the ICE facility in Batavia, NY and then transferred to North Lake Correctional Facility, a privately-run prison in Michigan, before being released on bond per an order by a federal judge on Feb. 2. His immigration case continues to be underway.
McLean-McDonald has not responded to The Spectrum’s four requests for comment.
Huseynov has been working at UB since 2022 with a work authorization from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security issued in 2021, university officials said in a statement emailed to The Spectrum. The work authorization is valid until 2029.
“The University at Buffalo community is very pleased with the federal immigration judge’s order last week granting Shovgi Huseynov’s release on bond from the detention center in Michigan,” the statement read. “The university will continue to provide appropriate support to Shovgi and his personal attorney as the case proceeds through the federal immigration system.”
Huysenov’s case is not the first time the UB community had encountered ICE. Just last spring, 17 current and former UB students had their visas suddenly terminated and restored by ICE within weeks, with some terminations linked to old driving violations.
The ICE facility in Batavia did not pick up The Spectrum’s repeated calls for comment.
The news desk can be reached at news@ubspectrum.com.
Photo: Courtesy of Comecoquito | Wikimedia Commons
