Minnesota’s international students fear deportation, being singled out for minor infractions — even a speeding ticket

MANKATO – After a week of hiding in her apartment, the student opened her refrigerator and realized she had no food.

She’s from the Middle East and for the past week she has been too scared to go grocery shopping or attend classes at Minnesota State University, Mankato. She said she felt “broken.”

She is one of the many international students at colleges and universities across Minnesota increasingly living in fear after at least 27 students at 13 schools have had their visa revoked or immigration records terminated in the last week or so for infractions as minor as a speeding ticket.

Two students — one in Mankato and one in Minneapolis — were detained by federal authorities.

Immigration attorneys say the federal government appears to be escalating its measures to deport immigrants under the Trump administration, singling out international students who have mostly misdemeanors that wouldn’t previously have prompted any repercussions.

“The vast majority ... would never have raised eyebrows in the past,” said David Wilson, a Minneapolis attorney. “This isn’t the way you remove people from the United States or force them to leave.”

Across Minnesota, college and universities enroll an estimated 15,000 international students. Some school officials have warned international students to “keep their head down,” delete their social media accounts and not engage in any protests after a Palestinian activist at Columbia University in New York was arrested by immigration authorities in March.

In southern Minnesota, the Mankato student has spent the last week deleting her social media and trying to disappear from the internet. As an outspoken critic of U.S. policy in the Israel-Hamas conflict, she asked not to be identified out of a fear of retribution.

“It’s just disappointing. You come to the land of freedom, and you’re caged,” she said, adding that she hopes to stay in the country longer, with her wedding set for August. “If anything, I’m less free here than I was in my country.”

Across Minnesota, universities aren’t revealing much about why their students were singled out by federal officials — they may not know themselves. Two University of St. Thomas international students had their visas revoked and immigration statuses terminated, the St. Paul school confirmed this week. The federal government cited “criminal” histories, but gave no indication what the violations were, President Robert Vischer said in a statement.

One school official, who wasn’t authorized to speak publicly, said a letter to a student about a visa revocation was vague, citing Section 221 of the Immigration and Nationality Act and stating that information had come to light indicating the student may be inadmissible to remain in the country. But designated school officials, who have access to a database of international students, are not getting the same letters.

Several sources said they aren’t seeing obvious trends in why students are being singled out, such as nationality or religion.

Multiple sources, who asked not to be identified because they didn’t have permission to speak publicly, said schools were not notified of the terminations nor the reasons behind them, and are looking into whether possible misdemeanors or social media posts could be behind the terminations.

Minnesota has international students studying at community and technical colleges, private colleges and large universities like the University of Minnesota. While the U has the largest number of international students, St. Cloud State and Minnesota State University, Mankato have more than 1,700 each, according to 2023-24 data. Private colleges like Concordia University-St. Paul and the University of St. Thomas have hundreds, too.

Wilson expects more of those enrolled will have their student status or immigration records terminated, but often neither students nor their schools receive any notification. Schools must check the system repeatedly to see if there have been changes.

“Students don’t see it coming,” Wilson said.

He and other immigration attorneys have been fielding an increasing number of calls from international students to ask for help after receiving notice from their school of their student status being terminated or having their record in the Student and Exchange Visitor Program’s (SEVIS) system deleted.

A deleted record in the system, which tracks international students, means U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) expects the student to leave the country immediately, Wilson said. Students could choose to leave, completing their semester abroad and then reapplying to come back with a new visa. Or they could stay and challenge the decision in court.

The University of Minnesota student detained by ICE — who had a drunken driving conviction — is challenging his detainment in court.

At Minnesota State Mankato, the international student population has been touted by the university as the country’s 15th largest, among master’s institutions. As of Wednesday, eight students have seen their visas revoked, according to the university.

At the food court on a recent afternoon, students walked under a banner of flags from around the world that said “Welcome International Students,” before lunching on sushi, falafel and tacos.

At a glance, the scene looked like typical for a university in the springtime, with students at their tables stressing over exams, arguing over group projects, gossiping, and discussing K-pop dances. But many international students said they’re filled with uncertainty and fear when they should be celebrating the end of the school year.

Tim, a student from central Asia, said the visa revocations have left him unable to focus on his studies. Tim, who asked to go by his American nickname out of fear of his visa being revoked, is also an outspoken critic of U.S. policy toward the Israel-Hamas conflict. He no longer feels comfortable going grocery shopping on his own, asking friends to accompany him.

“It was supposed to be a learning experience for America culture, its values,” Tim said of his exchange program. “But so far, I’ve been having some difficulties understanding this culture.”

Other international students have mixed emotions about the country they worked so hard to visit. Another international student said she canceled a flight to go home, despite not seeing her family and her boyfriend for two years.

“There is a reason why we got accepted, and why we’re here,” said the student, who asked not to be named due to fear she could be targeted for speaking out. “And now, coming and targeting us for the stupidest things, it’s just absurd.”

In St. Paul, an international student at St. Thomas said her peers have the same concerns about returning home countries for fear they can’t come back to finish their education. She’s among the students who are afraid to leave, she said, along with students from Nigeria and Venezuela.

During Trump’s first term, enrollment of new international students nationwide declined by almost 12% from fall 2016 through fall 2019, according to Open Doors data. In Minnesota, international student numbers fell by 21% at Minnesota State institutions from fiscal year 2017 to 2021, but those years also overlapped the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Advocates say international students have a large economic impact on Minnesota and the nation and make considerable contributions to U.S. university classrooms.

“It’s just too bad. We have an amazing university system in this country. We have some incredible minds but we also benefit from the diversity of ideas [from international students],” Wilson said. “This is going to set the country back, this type of approach to people.”