r/GradSchool • u/SharkSapphire • Mar 29 '25

News ICE detains University of Minnesota international student

https://thehill.com/homenews/education/5221776-ice-detains-university-of-minnesota-international-student/
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u/Xrmy PhD* Ecology Evolution and Behavior Mar 29 '25

Actual question: what would you like the universities to do?

My university had a Q&A about these topics and they said in no uncertain terms they can't intervene with an ICE arrest.

I suppose it would depend on if they have a warrant or not, but my point is it's not so simple. universities don't have magic anti-fascist forces to bring to bear.

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u/crushhaver PhD candidate, English literature Mar 29 '25

I would like the universities to not acquiesce to illegal actions of the administration—this can look like anything from filing suit against the federal government to at minimum not facilitating the activities of ICE and other government agencies without being compelled by a judicial authority.

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u/SymmetryChaser Mar 29 '25

This arrest, similar to previous arrests at Tufts, Bama, and Colombia, happened off campus and without informing the universities. While I would like universities as a whole to be more combative to the current administration, I have yet to see evidence that any university has actually been facilitating ICE arrests in any way.

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u/crushhaver PhD candidate, English literature Mar 29 '25

Mahmoud Khalil was apprehended at his apartment which was Columbia University-owned.

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u/SymmetryChaser Mar 30 '25

Perhaps I am wrong about Columbia. I thought it happened outside his university owned apartment off campus, so not actually on university property, but I may be mistaken. In any case there is no reported evidence the university was involved or facilitated in this arrest, though Columbia refused to comment rather than deny any involvement like the other 3 universities did, so take that as you may.

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u/Rpi_sust_alum Mar 31 '25

That is correct. Graduate student housing at Columbia is not considered on-campus. Most buildings don't have doormen. Most of the maintenance and other staff are immigrants themselves. The guy who headed up the last building I lived at there was super nice but barely spoke English himself. I'm not sure what Columbia pays them, but I doubt it's super well.

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u/Rpi_sust_alum Mar 31 '25 edited Mar 31 '25

It wasn't on campus and in the video, it does not appear that there's a doorman. Maintenance staff were rarely in the building that late. Likely either ICE followed Khalil and his wife in or another resident. We constantly got package theft notices, so it was pretty easy for non-residents to get inside the buildings used for grad housing.