Basak Arikan, a Moab resident, was pulled over by the Grand County Sheriff’s Office on March 19 on her way to work — before Immigration and Customs Enforcement took her into custody.

Within two months, Arikan was transferred from detention centers in Provo and West Valley City, to Wyoming and now California, according to Moab Indivisible, a volunteer-led group that is part of the national Indivisible movement.

Sheriff’s office spokesperson Al Cymbulak told The Times-Independent deputies arrested Arikan on a “Warrant for Arrest of Alien” issued by Agent Jonathan C. Whiteley from the Department of Homeland Security before transporting her to the Grand County Jail.

“In my own assessment of the warrant and detainer, the arrest was issued due to biometric identity confirmation, evidence regarding immigration status, and a demonstrated risk to public safety,” Cymbulak wrote in an email.

According to Moab Indivisible, Arikan, a Turkish immigrant, has been denied adequate food, water, prescribed medications and phone calls. She’s been held in “cold, unsanitary, overcrowded cells alongside people who are physically ill,” the group wrote in a social media post.

Since she was detained, Arikan has accrued $30,000 in legal fees, organizer Kelsey Koprowski said. A local family of three who also owns a small business has borne the brunt of the legal expenditures.

The grassroot organization launched fundraising efforts to help bring Arikan back home and to support the family that has taken on this endeavor.

“They’ve taken on this pretty massive burden and emotional weight of trying to secure the release of this young woman,” Koprowski told The Times-Independent. “I am watching them weekly, really [struggling] with this, and trying to give them as much support as I can.”

While the family isn’t related to Arikan, Koprowski said they are “very close friends” with her. Arikan is the only one in her immediate family who is in the United States, according to Koprowski.

“She doesn’t have any parents, siblings, aunts or uncles here to help her,” Koprowski said. “It’s only this trio that’s lived in Moab for six [or] seven years now, who’s handling all of the documentation and legal stuff.”

A move, employment and a marriage

According to Moab Indivisible, Arikan moved to Moab in 2022 through the Work and Travel VISA Program after she graduated from college. Since then, she’s worked in local restaurants and hotels.

She recently married a U.S. citizen and was preparing to begin her naturalization process. Since being detained, however, Arikan has been pressured to sign self-deportation paperwork, according to Koprowski. Arikan has refused to sign any paperwork given by the detention centers, she added.

Cymbulak said the Grand County Sheriff’s Office has worked with Homeland Security Investigations for the past four years and currently has a task force officer in partnership with HSI that helps fund the agency’s Internet Crimes Against Children unit, drug interdiction efforts and asset seizures. According to Cymbulak, the collaboration “streamlines the capture of criminals and facilitates federal prosecution.”

“We assisted DHS at their request to ensure the continued safety of our community,” Cymbulak wrote.

Arikan has no criminal record, according to Moab Indivisible, and The Times-Independent verified state records show no criminal history.

Koprowski said when the sheriff’s office took Arikan into custody, deputies wouldn’t answer any of her questions.

“For a long time, she was asking, ‘Why am I here? Why? What’s going on? What’s happening?’ And they didn’t tell her,” Koprowski said. “They just told her that [they] have information from ICE and they’re going to come pick [her] up.”

‘Much bigger than just a legal fund’

For two months, Koprowski said it’s been “really hard to toggle between these two realities.”

“We are continuing to operate basically with our normal day-to-day lives here, and someone else has just been utterly removed from everything that was their life,” Koprowski said. “And trying to figure out ways to get them back is hard. It’s definitely taken a huge emotional toll on the family here that’s connected to her more directly. They are struggling.”

Koprowski acknowledged that it’s a “pipe dream” to recoup all the funds the family has spent on legal fees, noting it’s an “enormous amount of money” for anyone who lives in Moab. The family, Koprowski added, noted the family was not directly involved in Arikan’s immigration case, but chose to support her because of their friendship.

To Koprowski, this effort is more than money — it demonstrates how the Moab community is able to band together and support one another.

“[It shows] how many other immigrants in Moab will emotionally benefit from knowing that there is a community of people that are willing to chip in when there’s hardship,” Koprowski said. “It’s so much bigger than just a legal fund.”

Note to readers • Lizzie Ramirez is a Report for America corps member covering local government and tourism in Grand County for The Times-Independent. Your donation to match our RFA grant helps keep her writing stories. Please consider making a tax-deductible gift of any amount today by clicking here.

This story was first published by The Times-Independent.