JACKSON—When Feride Bardakci called her roommate from immigration custody in Casper, the 26-year-old restaurant worker tried to make a joke.
“Honey, I guess you know why I’m calling right now,” her roommate recalled Bardakci saying.
Hours earlier, federal immigration officers restrained Bardakci’s hands behind her back and took her from a START bus stop as she traveled between shifts at two Jackson restaurants. Her alleged violation was overstaying her authorized time in the United States — a civil immigration matter.
Federal agents traveled roughly 270 miles from Casper to Jackson that day, arrested Bardakci and drove her back to the Natrona County Detention Center, according to her roommate.
Federal officials have not accused Bardakci of committing a crime. They described her arrest as a “targeted enforcement operation” but have not explained why she was selected or how agents located her.
Even from custody, Bardakci’s immediate concern was not herself. She worried about missing work and leaving her roommate to cover their rent alone.
“She is the strongest girl I’ve ever met,” said the roommate, who asked not to be named.
Bardakci’s Sept. 15 arrest has raised questions about why agents selected her and why federal officials provided conflicting explanations about whether she posed a concern to the community.
Conflicting information
Federal officials have provided conflicting accounts of why Bardakci was targeted and how agents carried out the arrest.
In a written statement attributed only to a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson, the agency said Bardakci legally entered the United States in June 2023 but remained after her authorized stay expired in April 2024. DHS identified the alleged overstay as the basis for her arrest and did not accuse her of criminal conduct.
Federal representatives who declined to publicly provide their names told the Jackson Hole News&Guide that hundreds of people are arrested under similar circumstances every day across the country.
Federal officials also gave Teton County Sheriff Matt Carr a different explanation for the arrest. Carr said one official described Bardakci as “somebody that warrants great concern for having them in your community” and suggested undisclosed information made her a priority.
“For whatever reason, this person was significant enough that they came for what they call a targeted individual,” Carr said. “They were after one individual person, and they took that person and they left.”
Carr acknowledged that he has not seen the information to which the official alluded and does not know why Bardakci was targeted or whether the characterization was justified. ICE told the News&Guide only that the operation was targeted because Bardakci had violated immigration law by overstaying her authorized time in the country.
Asked in a follow-up email what made Bardakci a significant community concern, ICE public affairs said Carr had received information that conflicted with DHS’s official account.
“Whoever talked to the sheriff directly contradicts the statement that DHS provided,” the response said.
ICE then offered broader statistics about the people it arrests.
“Nearly 70% of ICE arrests are of criminal illegal aliens who have been convicted or have pending charges,” the agency wrote. “This statistic doesn’t account for those wanted for violent crimes in their home country or another country, INTERPOL notices, human rights abusers, gang members, terrorists, etc. The list goes on.”
The agency did not say whether any of those descriptions applied to Bardakci.
DHS’s original statement also referred to Tren de Aragua, MS-13, criminal rings, murderers and rapists while explaining why immigration officers sometimes wear masks. Asked whether Bardakci had any connection to a gang or violent crime, the agency replied, “They do not.”
ICE twice declined the News&Guide’s request for a copy of Bardakci’s arrest warrant, saying the agency does not release warrants to the public.
Attorney Elisabeth Trefonas, who is representing Bardakci, said the government’s statement made an alleged civil visa violation sound connected to criminal activity.
“If they had something on her, like she was a terrorist or she had a criminal record, wouldn’t they have put that in the statement?” Trefonas said.
“That’s not there.”
Why the arrest differs
Bardakci’s arrest differed from cases covered by the Teton County Sheriff’s Office’s 48-hour immigration hold policy.
Those holds allow the Sheriff’s Office to keep people arrested on state or municipal allegations for up to 48 hours beyond their scheduled release so federal immigration officers can assume custody.
Bardakci, however, was not arrested on a local charge or booked into the county jail. Federal agents instead sought her directly in the community, restrained her at a public bus stop and transported her to Casper based on an alleged visa overstay.
Carr has defended his office’s policy by noting that detainees first enter local custody over alleged crimes, though ICE holds may be honored regardless of the charge’s severity or outcome.
Carr said this week that the bus stop arrest did not change his support for the policy.
Carr said federal officials acknowledged that agents failed to notify local dispatch before the arrest despite instructions to do so, calling the omission an internal personnel issue.
Not first street arrest
Bardakci’s arrest was not the first time ICE agents have sought people directly in Jackson rather than taking custody of them through the county jail.
During a multiday operation in July 2025, agents detained at least nine people across Teton County and western Wyoming. The detainees were initially taken to the Sweetwater County Detention Center in Rock Springs before being transferred to federal facilities elsewhere.
Among them was Juan Barranco Castro, then 56, whom agents stopped in the parking lot of Jackson’s Community Bible Church as he drove to work. Friends said agents had been looking for someone else who drove a similar vehicle.
“He was just in the wrong place at the wrong time,” one friend said. “It happened by accident.”
The 2025 operation also included people with misdemeanor DUI convictions and others for whom reporters found only traffic citations or no criminal record. Agents acknowledged during a recorded briefing that some of their information might be incomplete, at one point saying they might not have the correct address for a target.
Bardakci’s arrest nevertheless stands apart because federal officials publicly named her, issued a statement about her detention and identified only an alleged visa overstay as the basis for targeting her.
Trefonas said she could not recall ICE issuing a comparable public statement about a local detainee.
Federal data track visa overstays
Federal immigration officials use arrival, departure and immigration-benefit records to identify people who may have remained in the United States beyond their authorized stay.
A U.S. Customs and Border Protection report says the government generates daily lists of potential overstays and checks them against documented departures, visa extensions and changes in immigration status. ICE then applies screening criteria to determine which cases receive further investigation or enforcement.
DHS said Bardakci entered the United States in June 2023 with permission to remain until April 1, 2024. Her roommate said Bardakci initially arrived through the J-1 exchange visitor program and later obtained tourist status, though the News&Guide has not independently verified that visa history.
In fiscal year 2024, CBP classified 34,540 of roughly 1.4 million students and exchange visitors from countries other than Canada and Mexico as suspected in-country overstays, a rate of 2.45%. Among Turkish citizens in the combined visa categories, 618 of 23,533 expected departures were classified as suspected in-country overstays, or 2.63%.
The figures do not show how many overstays live in Jackson or explain why agents selected Bardakci.
Bardakci’s roommate said she also first came to the United States drawn by the opportunity to improve her English, earn money and experience life outside of Turkey. She moved to Jackson a few years ago and created a community that she fell in love with, her roommate said.
Friends rally after arrest
Bardakci’s arrest set off a chain of calls through Jackson’s restaurant and immigrant communities, beginning with a passerby who stopped when she saw two men placing Bardakci into an SUV.
Bardakci called out for the witness to contact a manager at one of her workplaces. The witness did not know Bardakci, but she knew about a local immigration-response hotline through a recent fundraiser held by her employer.
“I didn’t even think to record the situation or take any photos,” the witness said. “It happened very fast.”
After the agents drove away, she called the hotline and relayed what she had seen. She also helped alert Bardakci’s employer. Word reached Bardakci’s roommate around 4:30 p.m. Sept. 15 — nearly three hours before Bardakci called him from Casper.
The witness said she initially felt unprepared, despite knowing enough to connect Bardakci with help. She hopes other residents learn that the hotline exists and understand that immigration arrests are happening locally.
“It’s not just in other places that it’s happening,” she said. “It’s happening in our town.”
Friends immediately began contacting attorneys, gathering documents and raising money for Bardakci’s legal expenses. They also helped her roommate cover the next month’s rent and communicate with Bardakci’s family in Turkey.
Support extended beyond financial assistance. Friends brought meals, offered the roommate places to stay so he would not be alone and took over phone calls when he became too emotional to explain what had happened.
“Every time I was talking, I was crying,” the roommate said. “My friends helped me a lot.”
Bardakci’s roommate has remained her primary connection to Jackson, keeping his phone nearby in case Bardakci calls and coordinating with her attorney and family. The two have spoken every day since the arrest.
Bardakci initially considered leaving the country voluntarily if doing so would secure her immediate release, her roommate said.
She ultimately decided to contest her removal after learning how strongly the community had rallied around her.
“I probably wouldn’t stay if I didn’t feel that support,” her roommate recalled Bardakci saying. “She says thank you to everyone.”
The response has also expanded interest in the Teton Area Rapid Response Network, which distributes verified information about immigration activity. Emily Gomez of the Wyoming Immigrant Advocacy Project said the network now has 66 trained volunteers.
Gomez said the arrest should prompt employers, elected officials and residents to consider how they can support immigrant workers, including by connecting them with legal resources and learning how to respond when federal enforcement occurs in public.
“Are we okay with that type of enforcement?” Gomez said. “And if we’re not okay with that, then what are we going to do about this? Because I think all of us have a role to play.”
Bardakci has since been transferred from Casper to an immigration detention center in Aurora, Colorado. Her roommate said she is being held in a unit for detainees without criminal histories.
Most of the women housed with her speak Spanish, he said, so Bardakci asked him to send her a Spanish-language dictionary.
Even in detention, she has held on to her sense of humor. She has joked with her roommate that she is spending Jackson’s offseason in Denver and will return home “famous.”
