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A joint operation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the United States Secret Service on July 28 resulted in the arrest of a Turkish national who had spent years falsely presenting himself as a political adviser to U.S. President Donald Trump, a White House official confirmed to Türkiye Today.
The confirmation is the first official U.S. government account of the case and adds an ironic new detail to Türkiye Today's previous reporting on the activities of Melih Gogebakan, who is currently held at the Delaney Hall Detention Facility in Newark, New Jersey, pending removal proceedings.
The most striking detail to emerge from the White House's account concerns the timeline of Gogebakan's presence in the United States.
According to the White House official, Gogebakan legally entered the country on June 11, 2019, with authorization to remain until Dec. 10, 2019. He did not leave. From that date onward, for nearly seven years, he remained in the United States without legal status, in violation of U.S. law.
That timeline directly contradicts his own social media record.
Photographs Gogebakan published on Facebook show him standing on White House grounds wearing what appears to be a visitor or press access badge, while his posts claim he spent multiple days inside the complex working on behalf of the Trump administration.
Those photographs were posted more than six years after his authorization to remain in the country had expired.
Türkiye Today asked the White House to clarify how an undocumented individual appeared on its grounds with a visible access credential, and whether any such credentials have been reviewed or revoked. No response to that specific question had been received at the time of publication.
His Facebook posts from the White House described three days of intensive work inside the complex and announced preparations for a Trump press conference, tagging both @whitehouse and @potus as though he were a participant in official proceedings.
The digital trail extended to LinkedIn, where his AI-generated post placed him side by side with Eric Trump in a promotional post for Trump Hotel Dubai.
"On July 28, ICE and the United States Secret Service conducted a targeted enforcement operation to arrest Melih Gogebakan," the official said, adding that Gogebakan had been "falsely claiming to be a political adviser to President Trump."
The official said he would "receive full due process and remain in ICE custody pending the outcome of his removal proceedings."
What sets Gogebakan's arrest apart from a straightforward immigration enforcement action is the involvement of the Secret Service. Beyond its protective mission, the agency carries statutory authority to investigate fraud cases involving the misuse of the president's name or identity for financial gain, and the impersonation of federal officials.
Joint ICE and Secret Service operations have historically been reserved for cases where both mandates overlap, such as large-scale fraud schemes that also carry national security or reputational implications for the U.S. government.
In May 2025, for example, the two agencies carried out a large-scale operation in Los Angeles targeting electronic benefit fraud, with ICE describing the coordination as reflecting their shared commitment to protecting vulnerable communities from exploitation.
That the same pairing was assembled for Gogebakan's arrest suggests investigators had concluded his conduct indeed went beyond overstaying a visa.
Gogebakan built an elaborate public identity across LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram, presenting himself variously as communications lead for Trump media and the Trump Organization, international media coordinator for Trump Hotel Dubai, and a Washington insider with direct access to the president.
His LinkedIn profile was linked to a company registered as Usa Melih LLC in New York. Turkish media reported that he was in fact working as an Uber driver during the period he was presenting himself as a power broker.
Turkish victims confirmed that Gogebakan used those credentials to solicit Turkish nationals seeking the E-2 investor visa, charging $3,000 per applicant and promising to route their cases through an American immigration attorney named "Martin."
None of the applications were ever filed.
Victims, according to Turkish media reports, were preparing to pursue legal action in both Türkiye and the United States.
Among the materials he used to establish credibility were official-looking documents bearing U.S. Congress letterheads, photographs alongside Turkish politicians and diplomats, and a January 2026 Facebook post in which he appeared alongside Anthony D'Esposito at his swearing-in as U.S. Department of Labor Inspector General, describing the official as someone who had "always been by our side at Trump Media."
Former Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu, whose photograph Gogebakan also showed to prospective victims, has denied any connection to the case.
The White House official's response carried an additional detail that throws the scale of Gogebakan's alleged scheme into sharp relief.
Gogebakan had been living in the United States and roving around White House grounds without legal status since December 2019. For years, an undocumented man with no visa of his own was charging Turkish nationals $3,000 each to obtain one.
The administration, the official noted, is currently offering undocumented individuals $2,600 and a free flight home if they choose to self-deport via the CBP Home App. "Being in detention is a choice," the official said.
The sum is less than the $3,000 Gogebakan reportedly charged each of his victims for visa services that were never rendered, meaning the U.S. government is now offering his alleged targets less in departure assistance than he pocketed from each of them for doing nothing.
Whether criminal charges beyond his immigration status will follow remains unclear. No U.S. authority has publicly filed fraud or impersonation charges against him at the time of publication.
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