The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detained a University of Minnesota international graduate student earlier this week, according to the institution, calling it a “deeply concerning situation.”
The university said that an international graduate student was arrested by ICE officials at an off-campus residence Thursday. The student was enrolled in the school’s Twin Cities campus, located in Minneapolis.
“We are actively working to gather more details about this incident,” University president Rebecca Cunningham said in a Friday press release that was also signed by Vice President for Student Affairs Calvin Phillips and Vice President for Equity and Diversity Mercedes Ramírez Fernández.
“In cases like this, the University takes steps to ensure students are connected to internal resources and support, such as Student Legal Service and International Student and Scholar Services,” they said in the update. “The University had no prior knowledge of this incident and did not share any information with federal authorities before it occurred.”
The Hill has reached out to ICE and the Department of Homeland Security for comment.
The school did not share the student’s name. The student was enrolled in the University of Minnesota’s Carlson School of Management.
“In the current climate, detentions like these deeply affect our community. From the very beginning of the University’s business school, our doors have been open to international students,” Carlson’s School of Management Dean Jamie Darin Prenkert said in Friday's message to students, faculty and staff.
“Faculty, staff, and scholars hailing from different countries have strengthened our research and classrooms—shaping us into the Carlson School we are today,” Prenkert added.
The Thursday arrest in Minnesota comes as President Trump’s administration has intensified its crackdown on foreign students and faculty who have engaged in pro-Palestine protests or have shown support for the Palestinian cause.
ICE has gone after at least eight international students of faculty members at various institutions. All of them were in the U.S. on a green card or student visa.
A minimum of 300 international students had their visas revoked since the crackdown accelerate upon Trump’s return to the Oval Office, according to Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
“Maybe more, it might be more than 300 at this point,” Rubio said on Thursday.
“We do it every day. Every time I find one of these lunatics, I take away their visa,” the nation’s top diplomat added. “I hope at some point we run out because we have gotten rid of all of them, but we’re looking every day for these lunatics that are tearing things up.”
One of University of Alabama’s doctoral students, Iranian national Alireza Doroudi, was detained Tuesday. The same day, ICE agents detained Tufts University international student Rumeysa Ozturk, who is a Turkish national.
