Judge orders immigrant’s release after ICE arrest based on George Floyd protest, Palestinian support

A U.S. district judge has ordered the immediate release of an Marshall man, a native of Indonesia, after concluding that his arrest and detention by federal agents were likely retaliation for his support for causes such as Black Lives Matter and Palestinian rights.

Aditya Wahyu Harsono, 34, who has lived in Minnesota on student visas for almost a decade, was arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in March at his workplace in Marshall and held in the Kandiyohi County Jail in Willmar.

Government officials sought his deportation, citing a misdemeanor graffiti conviction from 2022 and claiming in a March 23 memo that his visa should be revoked because he posed a “threat to U.S. public safety.”

In a 34-page decision, U.S. District Judge Katherine Menendez ruled that Harsono’s detention violated his First Amendment rights, which she affirmed apply to both citizens and noncitizens.

“The Court finds that [Harsono] has shown that he is in custody in violation of the First Amendment and is entitled to a writ of habeas corpus for his immediate release,” Menendez wrote in the ruling, filed Wednesday.

Menendez wrote that she found the government’s reasons for detaining Harsono to be a pretext and pointed to “inconsistent” explanations from federal officials in court for why he should remain in detention.

“The Court finds it is more reasonable to infer that Respondents have detained [Harsono] in retaliation for his speech than because of any professed public safety concern,” Menendez wrote.

Wednesday’s judgment that Harsono should not remain in detention is separate from the immigration case on whether he can lawfully remain in the country. He still has a court appointment on May 29, according to a government docket.

Harsono, who was working as a hospital supply-chain manager in Marshall as part of his student visa, said in an interview that he had no idea he was being apprehended until plainclothes federal agents placed him in handcuffs on March 27.

Since then, Harsono has been held at Kandiyohi County jail, and as of Wednesday afternoon he is still listed on the jail roster. Harsono is married to a U.S. citizen, Peyton Harsono, and they have an infant daughter, Adalet.

Lawyers for Harsono filed a federal habeas petition, challenging the legality of his detention, on May 2. In court, they argued that the government had targeted Harsono for his social justice advocacy.

This included his participation at a 2021 demonstration over George Floyd’s killing by Minneapolis police and the recent death of Daunte Wright by police in Brooklyn Center. Police said they arrested Harsono at the protest 13 minutes after the 11 p.m. curfew, but the charge was dismissed.

Harsono’s lawyers also argued that he was blacklisted for social media posts on the Instagram page for his clothing line, which had pictures with statements like “Free Palestine” and “Black Lives Matter.”

His lawyers pointed to internal government memos calling for the screening of social media activity for immigration enforcement.

ICE on April 7 provided three documents outlining the case for Harsono’s removal from the U.S., according to the ruling. Two of the memos were in connection with a misdemeanor conviction in 2022 for graffiti, after Harsono was charged after spray-painting on a bridge support and Schwan‘s food delivery trailers in Marshall. Harsono originally was charged with a felony, but the charge was downgraded to a misdemeanor in a plea deal, and he served probation.

To ICE, the graffiti case meant Harsono “now poses a threat to U.S. public safety,” the government memo read.

The other document submitted by ICE was a dismissal order regarding his 2021 protest arrest.

The ruling by Menendez found that the federal government offered no evidence about why it specifically selected Harsono for a visa revocation and then detention.

Menendez wrote that the government’s attempts to provide a motive that was not based on retaliation were “vague and inconsistent.”

She said ICE provided no explanation of why a “nearly two-year-old non-violent misdemeanor illustrates a present threat to public safety.”

Harsono’s criminal history was no cause for concern when he was allowed into the country after visiting family in Indonesia last April, the judge noted.

ICE also made repeated references in court to the 2021 arrest stemming from Harsono’s presence at a protest, even though the charge was dismissed. “This further implies that his detention is motivated by his support for a particular viewpoint,” Menendez wrote.

Harsono’s lawyers argued in court that his detention could have a chilling effect on free speech, and Menendez seemed to find these arguments convincing.

“The detention of [Harsono] and others for speech plainly sends a message to everyone, particularly noncitizens,” she wrote.

The judgment does not address arguments by Harsono’s lawyers that the government violated his right to due process.

According to court records, the official reason given for Harsono’s detention was that he overstayed his student visa, which had been revoked four days before his arrest. But Harsono’s lawyers argued that he might have been arrested even before his visa being revoked. They said his status on March 28, the day after his detention, purportedly showed that he was in “good standing” in a government database, the ruling said.

The ruling also noted that when Harsono attempted to tell ICE officers that he had legal status on March 28, he was told that no one could verify what he was saying due to the records database being “down” that day.

The ruling calls for Harsono to be released immediately under previously set bond conditions.

An immigration judge previously had ruled that Harsono did not pose a danger or a flight risk, and set a $5,000 bond. The Department of Homeland Security had appealed the decision through an automatic stay.

The order for Harsono’s release comes after the federal government reversed its stance on hundreds of student revocations after a series of lawsuits, and after other detained student-visa holders such as Mohammed Hoque in Mankato have been ordered released from detention on bond.

He said he first came to Minnesota in 2015. He was born in Samarinda, Indonesia, but had been studying at a college in Australia at the time. After graduating from Southwest Minnesota State University, he moved to Minneapolis to work at a nonprofit and start a clothing business.

His attorney Sarah Gad has said her client has maintained legal status since his arrival and has pending applications that should allow him to stay in the country.

Harsono said that after his arrest at the 2021 protest, which occurred shortly before his student visa expired, he went back to Indonesia. He said he was “surprised” when his application to return to study for a graduate degree was accepted.

Harsono met his future wife in 2022 while studying for his MBA, and they married the next year.

He said in a court filing that his detention has changed his views on speech and protests.

“Had I known back in 2021 that my peaceful protest activities and social media posts would lead to my arrest in 2025, I would not have done this,” Harsono said, according to a court filing. “[T]he cost of being detained and separated from my wife and daughter is too high now.”

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