University of Minnesota student who was detained by ICE sues for immediate release

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A University of Minnesota graduate business student who’s being held by Immigration and Customs Enforcement is suing for his immediate release, saying his arrest violated his rights and he’s been given little explanation for why he’s being held.

The lawsuit filed this week on behalf of Doğukan Günaydın, 28, a Turkish citizen, says two plainclothes federal officers arrested him on the street outside his St. Paul home while he was on his way to class Thursday.

“Doğukan feared he was being kidnapped as a man in a hooded sweatshirt grabbed him and handcuffed him,” according to his petition.

The lawsuit partially comports with a statement issued Monday by the Department of Homeland Security that he was arrested because he had a conviction for drunken driving on his record. The federal agency said he was not detained for any political activity. His petition says Günaydın has attended no protests and has written no politically driven publications.

His attorney, Hannah Brown, did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment Tuesday, nor did Justice Department and State Department officials in Washington.

Elected officials in Minnesota — including Gov. Tim Walz and U.S. Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith — have been demanding an explanation from Homeland Security officials.

“Snatching up students who come here legally to work hard and get an education does not make you tough on immigration,” Walz tweeted. “We need answers.”

Günaydın was in the U.S. on a student visa until the Department of Homeland Security canceled it Thursday. The petition alleges that action was illegal. It says he was held for several hours after his arrest without being told why, except that his F-1 student visa was “retroactively revoked.”

But the petition cites online records showing that his student visa wasn’t terminated until roughly seven hours after his arrest, with the only reason listed as “otherwise failing to maintain status,” citing laws that say an alien is deportable if they fail to maintain the immigration status under which they were admitted to the U.S. or whose presence in the U.S. “would have potentially adverse foreign policy consequences.”

The petition says authorities have met none of those legal grounds for terminating his student visa. It says a drunken driving condition is not a legal basis, citing a DHS list of termination reasons.

His petition acknowledges that Günaydın was arrested for drunken driving on June 27, 2023, but says he pleaded guilty, served his sentence and complied with all conditions of his release. It says he has no other criminal convictions or arrests except for a 2021 speeding ticket when he was an undergraduate at St. Olaf College in Northfield.

After his conviction, Günaydın was accepted into the university’s Carlson School of Business, awarded a scholarship and maintained a full course load with a high grade-point average, the petition says.

“Importantly, Mr. Günaydın has committed no crime that is cause for termination of his Student Status or that renders him deportable,” his attorney wrote.

After his arrest, Günaydın was taken to the Sherburne County Jail in Elk River, which also holds federal prisoners, and was told he’d get a hearing before an immigration judge April 8, but as of the lawsuit’s filing, he hadn’t been given any kind of charging document or hearing notice, his petition says.

“Without a charging document, Mr. Günaydın and counsel remain in the dark about the basis for his detention,” his attorney wrote.

The petition asks the court to order Günaydın’s immediate release, declare his arrest and continued detention illegal, and restore his student status.

“Even if he is ultimately freed, as long as Doğukan remains in ICE’s physical custody, he will be prevented from speaking freely and openly and his unlawful detention will serve to chill others,” his attorney wrote.

State court records show that Günaydın was arrested in Minneapolis in 2023 after a police officer saw him driving erratically. A preliminary breath test showed his blood alcohol level at 0.20%, well above the legal limit of 0.08%. A breath test in jail almost 90 minutes later registered 0.17%.

He pleaded guilty to a gross misdemeanor count of drunken driving, was given credit for four days served in custody and was ordered to perform one day of community service in lieu of further jail time. His fines and court fees totaled $528.

In his plea document, which both Günaydın and his attorney signed, he agreed he understood that, as a noncitizen, his guilty plea could result in deportation.