Immigration to deport Turkish man in viral video hitting enforcer

MANILA, Philippines — Bureau of Immigration on Friday said that it arrested the Turkish national who recently went viral in social media for evading traffic enforcers for overstaying in the country.

In a statement, Immigration said that it arrested Yuksel Ibrahim for immigration violations following his release from Makati police.

Ibrahim's car reportedly struck the arm of traffic enforcer Michael Orcino while the latter was directing traffic at the corner of Gil Puyat Avenue and Bautista Street in Barangay Palanan. The foreigner sped off when he was flagged down.

Complaints of direct assault, threat, resisting arrest and malicious mischief were filed against Ibrahim.

“We immediately conducted an investigation on his status once we received information about the incident,” said Immigration Intelligence Division Chief Fortunato Manahan Jr. in the statement.

Manahan said that they learned that Ibrahim was already overstaying in the country and that "his blatant disregard for the law and disrespect for law enforcers show that he is an undesirable alien.”

Makati City Mayor Abby Binay earlier sought the deportation of Ibrahim.

She said last week: “We will not tolerate Ibrahim’s disrespectful and abusive behavior. He has no right to assault an officer who only asked to see his driver’s license. His behavior was arrogant and uncivilized.

The Immigration officer added that “their verifications revealed that Ibrahim was also engaging in gainful operations without a proper visa.”

The bureau did not expound on the said operations.

Ibrahim is currently detained at the BI Detention Center in Taguig, pending deportation proceeding.