Minnesota joins 19 states in suing Trump administration over canceled student visas
Nearly two dozen states, including Minnesota, are suing the Trump administration over canceled student visas.
The administration has now canceled the visas of nearly 530 students, faculty and researchers across 88 colleges and universities.
The visa cancellations reflect a small percentage of the estimated 1.5 million international students studying in the United States.
In Minnesota, a University of Minnesota student detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is expected back in court Tuesday. Dogukan Gunaydin, a 28-year-old Turkish citizen, appeared before a judge at a bond hearing last week. The judge has not yet ruled whether Gunaydin, who federal officials say had his visa revoked due to a 2023 DWI arrest, can post bond.
Gunaydin is suing President Trump and other officials, arguing his continued detainment is unlawful.
ICE also recently detained a student at Minnesota State University-Mankato. School officials there said at least five other students have had their visas revoked.
University of Wisconsin system also reports dozens of visas revoked
At least 40 student visas have been revoked at schools within the University of Wisconsin school system, with more than two dozen from UW-Madison alone.
A spokesperson from UW-Madison wrote, "As of April 9, UW-Madison is aware of the automatic sevis termination of 26 total records. This includes 15 current students and 11 recent alumni on employment authorization … A SEVIS record termination generally means that a nonimmigrant individual no longer holds lawful nonimmigrant status and should depart the U.S. immediately."
Experts at UW say some students across the country were targeted for involvement in pro-Palestinian protests, while others cited traffic violations as reasons behind the cancellations. They expect more legal challenges to come, as the reasons behind the terminations are still unclear.
"What does it mean to be out of compliance? What are the elements that might make one vulnerable to being kind of in this threatened status, or out of compliance, and so that's something we're going to see," Sara McKinnon, an immigration expert at UW-Madison, said.
Editor's note: An earlier version of this story reported that Wisconsin was among the states joining the multi-state lawsuit against the Trump administration. This was in error, and the story and headline above have been corrected.
