Judge orders officials to explain detention of University of Minnesota student from Turkey

A judge is challenging the federal government to justify why a University of Minnesota student from Turkey remains jailed and was stripped of his student visa.

Doğukan Günaydin, 28, filed a petition — known as a writ — in U.S. District Court on Sunday challenging his apprehension outside his St. Paul home and visa revocation. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security justified the action based on Günaydin having a drunken driving conviction on his record.

Late Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Douglas Micko ordered President Donald Trump and others in his Cabinet to explain to the court by Thursday why Günaydin should not be granted release from the Sherburne County jail and have his visa status restored as his case proceeds.

“Respondents are directed to file an answer … certifying the true cause and proper duration of [Günaydin’s] confinement and showing cause why the writ should not be granted in this case,” Micko’s order read.

The answer should include “a reasoned memorandum of law and fact explaining [the government’s] legal position [and a] recommendation on whether an evidentary hearing should be conducted.”

If federal officials either fail to reply or their argument is not convincing, that clears the way for Günaydin’s release.

Once the government makes its filing by Thursday, Günaydin has seven days to respond, the judge wrote.

There is no indication that U.S. Immigration and Customs and Enforcement (ICE) targeted Günaydin for any protest activities in opposition to White House policies, as has been the case for other international college students as part of a broader federal crackdown.

DWI arrests are a common way for unlawful immigrants to catch the attention of ICE, and the agency has prioritized such cases recently amid Trump’s push for mass deportations.

“Mr. Günaydin has committed no crime that is cause for termination of his student status or that renders him deportable,” his petition asserted. It pointed out that he “has attended no protests and written no politically driven publications. … Neither Mr. Günaydin nor his counsel has been provided with any documentation or indication that he may be facing a charge related to national security or foreign policy.”

Following his arrest, the filing continued, Günaydin had his cellphone seized and was “left waiting for hours on end without access to his friends, family or attorney.”

Günaydin, a master’s student in the U’s Carlson School of Management, was not told why he was arrested or what his fate might be other than that his student visa was revoked and he has a hearing before an immigration judge scheduled for Tuesday.

The petition alleges that Günaydin, who came to the U.S. from Istanbul in January 2022 to study at St. Olaf College in Northfield, was denied his right to due process under the law and calls for his release pending resolution of his immigration status and restoration of his student visa.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office is acting as counsel for the respondents. An office spokeswoman declined to comment and referred questions of the U.S. Justice Deparment. The Star Tribune has sent the DOJ a request for a response to the allegations in Günaydin’s petition.

Günaydin’s drunken driving conviction stems from a June 2023 traffic stop when a Minneapolis police officer noticed Günaydin’s car nearly hit a stop light, jump a curb and weave in and out of traffic.

Court records show the officer said Günaydin did not immediately stop after he activated his squad lights to pull him over; when Günaydin did stop and the officer began to step out of his car, he drove away. After the officer called for assistance and Günaydin finally stopped, police took him to a chemical testing facility where they found his blood-alcohol concentration was more than twice the legal limit.

In March 2024, Günaydin pleaded guilty to a DWI and received a six-month sentence, which was stayed for two years, at a county correctional facility. The last point of his plea agreement stated, “I understand that if I am not a citizen of the United States, my plea of guilty may result in deportation, exclusion from admission to the United States, or denial of naturalization as a United States citizen.”

Maya Rao, Louis Krauss and Jp Lawrence of the Minnesota Star Tribune contributed to this report.