For Immediate Release

January 14, 2026

United University Professions President Frederick E. Kowal today strongly condemned ICE and U.S. Customs and Border Protection for taking a University at Buffalo researcher into custody after he made a wrong turn on the Peace Bridge between Buffalo and Canada.

Shovgi Huseynov, a UB medical researcher and an Azerbaijan native, was detained by Border Patrol agents Jan. 7 after taking a wrong turn on the bridge and immediately returning to the U.S. from the Canadian border checkpoint.

According to the Buffalo-based Investigative Post, Huseynov was turned over to ICE by Border Patrol agents after being detained when he returned to Buffalo.

“This is ridiculous,” Kowal said. “The arrest of our colleague has absolutely nothing to do with the security of our nation or the protection of life or property in Western New York. This was a simple driving error.

“For federal officers to use Gestapo-like tactics to take an innocent, productive member of the community and a dedicated dad and place him in custody for taking a wrong turn is ludicrous,” Kowal continued. “At the same time, this situation is also frightening because it’s clear that there are no limits on what ICE can and will do.”

A UB spokesman confirmed that Huseynov, who has no criminal record, has worked at the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences since 2022 on a Department of Homeland Security-approved work authorization that is valid through 2029. He is SUNY Research Foundation employee.

Huseynov is being held at the Buffalo Federal Detention Facility in Batavia.

The Investigative Post report said an ICE spokesperson, in a statement, alleged that Huseynov, who entered the U.S. on a J1 visa, is without legal status and that the agency will attempt to deport him.

Huseynov’s Facebook page lists him as a postdoc researcher and a student of Fundamentals of Neuroscience at Harvard University. In November 2025, he posted that he took part in the Society for Neuroscience’s Neuroscience 2025 conference in San Diego.

He is married and has a son and a young daughter.

In October 2025, UUP member Alcibiades “Alex” Lazaro Ramírez González and his husband, CSEA member Yannier “Yan” Vázquez Hildago, were detained by ICE agents in Syracuse while waiting to attend an immigration hearing. Both men work at Upstate Medical University in Syracuse.

A federal immigration judge ruled Jan. 13 to deport González to Ecuador pending an appeal. Homeland Security used an Asylum Cooperative Agreement between the United States and Ecuador to deport González.