Carlson School of Management in Minneapolis-St. Paul
The Carlson School of Management student seized on Thursday by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) apparently had their student visa revoked due to a prior driving-under-the-influence conviction.
“This is not related to student protests,” wrote Tricia McLaughlin, an assistant secretary for the Department of Homeland Security, on her X feed. “The individual in question was arrested after a visa revocation by the State Dept. related to a prior criminal history for a DUI.”
The still unnamed student, possibly from Turkey according to a Reddit post, was in a graduate business program at the University of Minnesota. It is unclear if the student was in Carlson’s MBA program, with STEM designation, or in one of its six specialty master’s programs that range from accountancy to business analytics. Some 26% of the students in Carlson’s MBA program are international.
University President Rebecca Cunningham and two other university officials announced the detainment at an off-campus residence in a Friday email to the campus community. Carlson School Dean Jamie Prenkert sent a separate email to the school’s students and staff.
UNIVERSITY SAYS IT HAD NO PRIOR KNOWLEDGE OF ICE DETAINMENT
“The University had no prior knowledge of this incident and did not share any information with federal authorities before it occurred,” according to the university email. “It is important to note that our campus departments of public safety, including UMPD, do not enforce federal immigration laws, and our officers do not inquire about an individual’s immigration status.”
Carlson Dean Prenkert reinforced the school’s view that it remains committed to international students. “This detention, which happened off campus, comes amid a time of uncertainty regarding changing federal immigration policies,” he wrote. “From the very beginning of the University’s business school, our doors have been open to international students. Faculty, staff, and scholars hailing from different countries have strengthened our research and classrooms—shaping us into the Carlson School we are today (see below).
A spokesperson for the university, Jake Richter, told P&Q that he could not confirm the student’s identity. “As we would in any situation, we are following the lead of the student and respecting their request for privacy,” said Richter. “Additionally, the University has privacy obligations to students under state and federal law.”
An attorney for the detained student was reached by a reporter at CNN but declined comment, saying it’s a “highly sensitive situation” and they want to protect their client’s privacy.
ICE DETENTION FOLLOWS TRUMP ADMINISTRATION OF AN INVESTIGATION
Only days before this detention, a Turkish national and doctoral student at Tufts University was detained by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security agents. Three ICE arrests also have involved students at Columbia University. The other individuals ICE detained or sought to arrest attended Brown, Cornell and the University of Alabama.
While their detention has fueled much media attention, they reflect a very small number of impacted international students. In 2023-2024, a record 1,126,690 international students were enrolled in U.S. universities, with 502,291 in graduate programs. Most of them–331,602–are from India, a 23% increase from the previous year, while China has 277,398 students in U.S. universities, representing a 4% decline from year-earlier numbers.
The Trump administration announced last month that the University of Minnesota was among 10 schools that Justice Department investigators would visit to determine whether they “failed to protect Jewish students and faculty members from unlawful discrimination.”
300 INTERNATIONALS HAVE HAD THEIR STUDENT VISAS REVOKED BY THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION
The Twin Cities campus also was on a list of 60 colleges the Department of Education warned this month were at risk of “potential enforcement actions” because of accusations of antisemitism.
On the same day the Carlson student was detained, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that 300 student visas have been revoked thus far. “If you apply for a visa to enter the United States and be a student, and you tell us that the reason why you’re coming to the United States is not just because you want to write op-eds, but because you want to participate in movements that are involved in doing things like vandalizing universities, harassing students, taking over buildings, creating a ruckus, we’re not going to give you a visa,” Rubio said. “If you lie to us and get a visa then enter the United States, and with that visa, participate in that sort of activity, we’re going to take away your visa.”
Rubio continued that if a student then lost his or her visa, “you’re no longer legally in the United States. And we have a right, like every country in the world has a right, to remove you from our country.”
