Second Minnesota university student detained by ICE

Minnesota State University Mankato was searching for answers Monday after disclosing that one of its students was detained by ICE, a day after immigration authorities had arrested a University of Minnesota student.

The Mankato student was detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Friday and no reason was given, said President Edward Inch in a letter to the campus.

“The university has received no information from ICE, and they have not requested any information from us,” he wrote. “I have contacted our elected officials to share my concerns and ask for their help in stopping this activity within our community of learners. Our international students play an important role in our campus and community. They are a valued part of our campus culture.”

The arrest was mentioned at a Monday rally on the University of Minnesota campus in Minneapolis, where students and members of the AFSCME Local 3800 and GLU-UE labor unions called for the institution to protect workers “from Trump’s attacks.” They also raised alarms about ICE’s detention of an international business graduate student at an off-campus residence last Thursday.

As first reported by the New York Times, the U student, who is a Turkish citizen, filed a federal lawsuit Sunday challenging his arrest. According to the Times story, the man said in the suit he was taken into custody Thursday morning after he stepped out of his St. Paul home to head to class.

After he was driven to ICE offices, officials reportedly told the student his visa had been “retroactively revoked,” according to the Times. In the lawsuit, the man said he feared he was being kidnapped.

The lawsuit names President Donald Trump and several other officials including U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem as respondents. As of Monday night, access to the petition and other documents of the federal lawsuit appear to be restricted. The student’s attorney didn’t respond to requests for comment.

The Department of Homeland Security told the Associated Press in a statement Monday that the U student’s visa was revoked due to a “prior criminal history for a DUI” and unrelated to student protests.

Following a series of student speeches Monday outside Morrill Hall, Max Vast, president of AFSCME Local 3800, told the crowd that state Sen. Omar Fateh had just told Vast about the Mankato student’s arrest.

“We’re here today doing this and these attacks keep happening … We call on University of Minnesota President [Rebecca] Cunningham but also the [Minnesota State Colleges and Universities] leadership to do something about this,” Vast said.

Protesters clapped and shouted, “No more ICE on campus!”

Unlike criminal arrests, immigration arrests are not documented in publicly available reports.

Fateh, DFL-Minneapolis, told reporters that he received the Mankato letter a few hours before and was trying to find an attorney on the student’s behalf.

DHS did not respond Monday to messages seeking more information on the arrests.

In recent weeks, Trump has been increasing efforts to arrest and deport student activists who protested against Israel and in support of Palestinians.

According to the Times, the U student and his attorney said in the lawsuit that he had not participated in campus protests or been politically outspoken.

The U.S. government has the authority to put temporary visa holders and even permanent legal residents in deportation proceedings for various criminal violations.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., said her office is working with Minnesota State University Mankato and is pressing ICE for more information.

Minnesota State Mankato has more than 1,700 international students. The U’s Twin Cities campus has more than 6,000 international students, and there are nearly 15,000 in the state of Minnesota.

The Mankato campus president encouraged people on campus to reach out to resources such as the Global Education Centers, Counseling Center and 211 Basic Needs Resource Hub if they need support.

Cyrille Date, president of the International Student Association at the university, said that with so little information available Monday, “everybody’s kind of on the edge right now waiting to hear more.”

“As international students, we were warned of what could come with this new administration, but everyone was under the assumption that if you were here legally, then you should have nothing to worry about,” Date said. “We’re here legally, so we’re not really sure why anyone on this campus or any campus in America would be targeted.”

Elliot Hughes and Erin Adler of the Minnesota Star Tribune contributed to this story, which also contains material from the Associated Press and the New York Times.