Federal judge orders ICE to immediately release Indonesian man accused of overstaying visa
A Minnesota federal judge ordered immigration officials to immediately release an Indonesian man who was taken into custody in late March after allegedly overstaying his student visa, reports say.
Aditya Harsono, 34, has been held at the Kandiyohi County Jail in Willmar since being arrested by ICE agents at his workplace in Marshall on March 27, according to the Minnesota Star Tribune.
"The Court finds that [Harsono] has shown that he is in custody in violation of the First Amendment and is entitled to a writ of habeas corpus for his immediate release," the newspaper cited U.S. District Judge Katherine Menendez as saying in her ruling Wednesday.
"The Court finds it is more reasonable to infer that Respondents have detained [Harsono] in retaliation for his speech than because of any professed public safety concern," Menendez reportedly added.
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Menendez ordered that Harsono be released within 48 hours, with his attorney Sarah Gad telling MPR News that his family posted a $5,000 bond.
Harsono previously said he thought his arrest on March 27 was in retaliation for his participation in protests following the 2021 police-involved killing of Daunte Wright, according to the outlet.
"U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested Aditya Wahyu Harsono of Indonesia March 27 at his place of work. Harsono entered the United States legally on Jan. 7, 2015. Harsono was arrested by Lyon County Sheriff's Office Oct. 18, 2022, for damage to property and convicted on Feb. 7, 2023. US law enforcement determined he poses a public safety threat," a senior Homeland Security official told Fox 9 Minneapolis-St. Paul.
The station reported that Harsono first arrived in the U.S. under a student visa to study at Southwest Minnesota State University before he married an American citizen in October 2023.
It added that Harsono was in the process of obtaining a green card, but his visa was revoked just days before he was arrested at the hospital where he works.
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Harsono’s attorney told Fox 9 Minneapolis-St. Paul that his misdemeanor vandalism conviction is not a deportable offense.
"There seems to be this trend recently where international students who have engaged in some type of activism or expressed, you know, political speech or have expressed, you know, support for Palestine – something along those lines – their student visas get revoked," Gad said to the station.
Harsono’s lawyers also argued in court that the government targeted him over posts on the Instagram page of his clothing line, which had pictures with messages such as "Free Palestine" and "Black Lives Matter," according to the Minnesota Star Tribune.
Gad did not immediately respond Thursday to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.