– Additional Case Profiles

In early 2025, the U.S. government launched an unprecedented immigration crackdown targeting foreign students and recent graduates involved in pro-Palestinian activism. President Donald Trump vowed to “find and deport” international students who joined campus protests criticizing Israel’s war in Gaza, and by late March the State Department had revoked the visas of at least 300 students deemed “destabilizing”. Advocacy groups report that over a thousand international students have since lost legal status. Many affected students were detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) despite no criminal charges, sparking legal challenges and outcry over free speech and due process. Below are profiles of several students beyond those previously detailed in Al Jazeera’s coverage – individuals who faced visa revocation, detention or deportation amid accusations tied to pro-Palestinian activism. Each story highlights their background, the nature of the immigration action against them, their political activities, and the legal and human rights response to their cases.

Mohammed Hoque – 20, Bangladesh

Institution: Minnesota State University, Mankato (Undergraduate student)
Status at Time of Incident: F-1 international student (full-time MIS major), in good standing academically.

Arrest and Visa Revocation: On March 28, 2025, plainclothes ICE agents tailed Mohammed Hoque’s car and arrested him as he returned to his off-campus home. The officers informed the 20-year-old Bangladeshi student that his student visa had been revoked, even though neither he nor his university had received prior notice. As Hoque was processed at Fort Snelling, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) terminated his SEVIS student record on the spot – effectively stripping him of legal status. ICE then detained Hoque at Freeborn County Jail in Minnesota, invoking a section of immigration law that allows removal of a noncitizen believed to pose adverse foreign policy consequences. Notably, no criminal charges were filed against Hoque in relation to his arrest or political activity. DHS instead cited a minor two-year-old disciplinary incident – a misdemeanor altercation with a friend for which Hoque had already completed probation – as evidence he could be a “threat to U.S. public safety”. However, this offense is not deportable under immigration law, and Hoque had even been allowed to travel abroad and re-enter the U.S. after it, suggesting it was only now being used to justify his detention.

Political Activity: Hoque’s detention appears linked to his vocal support for Palestinian human rights. According to court filings, he had shared social media posts about violence against Palestinians in Gaza, including the hashtag “#FreePalestine,” and expressed concern for civilians there. He participated in or at least supported peaceful Gaza solidarity events on campus – the university noted that protests at MSU Mankato were peaceful, and Hoque “does not support violence”. His lawyers argue these are constitutionally protected expressions of political opinion, and that he was targeted for his pro-Palestine views rather than any genuine security issue. Indeed, the lawsuit claims ICE singled him out “because of political views he expressed on social media about human rights violations against Palestinians”. Hoque’s case is one of many suggesting DHS has focused on students from Muslim-majority countries (Bangladesh, in his case) with minimal or no wrongdoing, under the guise of combating campus extremism.

Legal and Human Rights Response: Mohammed Hoque has mounted a vigorous legal challenge. With support from the ACLU of Minnesota, he filed a federal lawsuit against the U.S. government alleging that his visa status was unlawfully revoked and his constitutional rights were violated by the retaliatory detention. The suit names top officials including President Trump, and seeks Hoque’s immediate release. An immigration judge granted Hoque release on bond on April 9, recognizing he was not a flight risk, but DHS intervened to block the judge’s order, keeping Hoque jailed despite the bond approval. Hoque’s attorneys argue this continued detention causes “irreparable harm”, and have asked a federal judge to enforce the bond and free him. University officials, citing privacy laws, declined comment but indicated they are supporting affected students. Hoque remains detained as of mid-April 2025, awaiting the outcome of his lawsuit and deportation proceedings. His case has become a rallying point: student and civil rights groups in Minnesota have held campus rallies protesting his detention and the dozen other MSU Mankato students whose visas were suddenly revoked during the crackdown.

Current Status: Detained. As of April 18, 2025, Hoque was still held in ICE custody at the Minnesota jail, prevented from release despite a judge’s bond grant. His deportation case is pending; a federal court outcome on his habeas petition is awaited. Hoque is the only one of roughly a dozen Mankato students who lost status to be detained so far – the others are in legal limbo but not incarcerated. His resolve, however, has galvanized legal advocates: “Mr. Hoque’s posts about Gaza are protected speech…he should not be in a jail cell for that,” his ACLU attorney argued, emphasizing the broader implications for First Amendment rights.

Doğukan Günaydın – late 20s, Turkey

Institution: University of Minnesota, Twin Cities (Graduate student, Carlson School of Management MBA program)
Status at Time of Incident: F-1 international student (graduating MBA student), lawful permanent resident (green card) applicant (married to a U.S. citizen).

Arrest and Visa Revocation: On March 27, 2025, ICE agents arrested Doğukan Günaydın near his St. Paul apartment in a surprise ambush that felt like a “kidnapping”. The 29-year-old Turkish student was not picked up for campus protest activity – in fact, Günaydın had not participated in any demonstrations or political groups at the university. Instead, DHS targeted him over a year-old DUI offense. Günaydın had pleaded guilty in March 2024 to a misdemeanor drunk-driving charge stemming from an incident in June 2023. He served the penalty and remained in good standing; notably, authorities did not pursue immigration action at the time. However, in late March 2025, as part of the Trump administration’s sweep, the State Department abruptly revoked Günaydın’s student visa on the grounds of that DUI conviction. ICE agents (in plainclothes and unmarked cars) then detained him without any new charges, informing him only after the fact that his visa had been canceled. DHS officials insist Günaydın’s arrest “is not related to student protests” and purely about the prior offense. But his lawyers point out that revoking a visa for a past DUI – after allowing him to continue studies and even begin a green card process – is highly unusual and suggestive of a broader political motive. ICE initially alleged technical immigration violations and even sought to portray him as a public safety threat, but at a court hearing, government attorneys struggled to articulate firm charges, delaying proceedings. Meanwhile, Günaydın was jailed at Sherburne County ICE facility, where he told friends he feared he was being “kidnapped” by unidentified men.

Political Activity: By all accounts, Günaydın was not politically active. He is a former high school valedictorian who came to the U.S. at age 7 and grew up here. Now a graduate student, he had not attended or led any Gaza protests, and did not engage in campus activism. The New York Times confirmed that he wasn’t involved in pro-Palestinian demonstrations that swept U.S. campuses in late 2024. This makes his case an outlier in the crackdown – essentially collateral damage. The timing suggests that immigration authorities combed through records for any foreign students with past infractions as a pretext to remove them. Günaydın himself was stunned at being caught up in this dragnet. His petition notes he complied with all requirements and was pursuing permanent residency through his American spouse. Far from posing a threat, he was weeks from completing his MBA and expecting to start his career in the U.S. His lawyers argue that ensnaring an apolitical student over a minor offense – one that isn’t normally grounds for deportation – shows the indiscriminate and punitive nature of the campaign.

Legal and Human Rights Response: Doğukan Günaydın responded by swiftly filing a federal lawsuit challenging his detention as unlawful. His habeas corpus petition, filed in late March, names President Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and DHS Secretary Kristi Noem among the defendants. It argues that terminating his visa without due process and detaining him without clear charges violates his rights. A federal judge issued a temporary restraining order blocking ICE from deporting Günaydın at least until his case is heard. However, ICE has not released him. In mid-April, a U.S. immigration judge postponed Günaydın’s deportation hearing after DHS lawyers backtracked on their legal rationale and requested more time – a sign that the government is struggling to justify his removal. This delay means Günaydın remains jailed for weeks longer with uncertain charges. His detention has sparked protests at the University of Minnesota, where hundreds of students and faculty rallied, and even Minnesota’s governor demanded answers from DHS. “I felt like I could be snatched in the night for speaking up,” one classmate said, noting that Günaydın’s case sent shockwaves of fear through the international student community. Legal experts underscore that a DUI alone is not valid grounds for deportation in this context, lending credence to the idea that Günaydın was swept up because of the anti-Palestinian-protest dragnet. His attorneys, including the University of Minnesota’s Binger Center for New Americans, are seeking his immediate release and restoration of his visa status.

Current Status: Detained. As of April 15, 2025, Günaydın remained in ICE custody in Minnesota, awaiting a May court date after the government’s case against him was put in disarray. No new charges have been filed beyond the visa revocation. A judge has barred ICE from removing him without court approval, effectively pausing deportation. But with his MBA graduation looming, Günaydın sits in jail – a stark reminder, advocates say, that even students with no activist involvement can become targets. “It feels like the Constitution doesn’t apply to us,” a fellow foreign student lamented, after seeing Doğukan, a friend who never protested, taken away. Günaydın is fighting not only for his freedom but to ensure that lawful residents are not punished for exercising (or even choosing not to exercise) free speech rights, in what his lawsuit calls an “unprecedented and unjustifiable assault” on First Amendment freedoms.

Leqaa Kordia – (mid-20s), Palestinian (West Bank)

Institution: Columbia University (former student)
Status at Time of Incident: Out-of-status – former F-1 student whose visa was terminated in 2022. (Kordia had been studying at Columbia University, but her student visa was revoked for non-attendance, and she remained in the U.S. without status.)

Arrest and Immigration Action: In mid-March 2025, U.S. authorities arrested Leqaa Kordia in Newark, New Jersey as part of the crackdown on campus protesters. DHS announced that Kordia – a young Palestinian woman from the occupied West Bank – was taken into custody on March 14 for “overstaying her student visa.” Immigration officials noted that her Columbia University F-1 visa had been terminated back in January 2022 due to “lack of attendance”, meaning she was technically undocumented. For over two years she had lived in the U.S. without legal status, but it was only after the Gaza solidarity rallies that ICE moved to deport her. Kordia’s arrest came just days after the high-profile detention of Mahmoud Khalil (a fellow Columbia graduate student), marking her as the “second person” arrested over the Columbia Gaza protests. ICE agents did not allege any new crime by Kordia; the sole stated reason was her visa overstay. However, the timing and context strongly imply Kordia was picked up as a direct response to her campus political activity, rather than the lapse in her student status alone. She was quickly processed for removal – transferred to ICE detention in Texas – with officials indicating she would be deported for the overstay. As of the end of March, ICE records showed Kordia detained at the Prairieland Detention Center in Alvarado, TX, awaiting immigration proceedings.

Political Activity: Leqaa Kordia was known as a pro-Palestinian student activist at Columbia University. Though no longer officially enrolled by 2024, she remained involved in campus actions. DHS acknowledged that Kordia had been previously arrested for participating in Columbia University protests in April 2024. Those demonstrations were part of the spring 2024 “Gaza solidarity” encampment and building sit-ins, where students demanded their university divest from companies tied to the Israeli military. Kordia was among the protesters advocating for Palestinian rights; it’s not clear if she held a leadership role, but her visible involvement put her on authorities’ radar. When President Trump and DHS launched the post-Gaza-war purge of foreign students, Kordia’s name surfaced due to her protest record. Indeed, DHS officials have increasingly conflated pro-Palestinian protest with support for “terrorism”, and in Kordia’s case they justified action by claiming she had engaged in activities “aligned with Hamas” – a characterization her fellow students vehemently dispute. No evidence of any violent or unlawful acts by Kordia has been presented; by all accounts her “offense” was peacefully protesting and overstaying her visa. Civil liberties observers note that thousands of visa overstayers live in the U.S. with little attention, yet Kordia was swiftly arrested – suggesting she was singled out due to her Palestinian activism.

Legal and Human Rights Response: Unlike some other students, Leqaa Kordia has not been reported to file a personal lawsuit, possibly due to her lack of legal status at the time of arrest. However, her case drew immediate condemnation from rights groups. The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and other advocates denounced ICE’s action as retaliatory. Media and advocacy organizations highlighted Kordia as a victim of collective punishment against Palestinian voices. For example, the Southern Poverty Law Center noted her arrest as part of a troubling pattern of “abductions” of student activists by ICE. Lawyers point out that even though Kordia did overstay her visa, the extreme response of detention and deportation now – after years – indicates a political motive. Kordia’s name appears alongside several Columbia students and alums in a joint lawsuit filed against Columbia University and a Congressional committee, seeking to prevent the handover of protest-related disciplinary records. In other words, her peers and attorneys are pushing back against the broader campaign of intimidation. The media in Kordia’s native Palestine also took note; her story has been cited as evidence of the U.S. government’s suppression of Palestinian advocacy. As of mid-April, no judge had publicly intervened in Kordia’s case – likely because her legal options are limited by the prior visa lapse. Still, her plight is often raised by supporters campaigning for the release of others; signs reading “Free Leqaa” have been seen at rallies in New York and Washington.

Current Status: Detained (pending deportation). Leqaa Kordia remained in ICE detention in Texas through March and April 2025. She faces imminent deportation to the Israeli-occupied West Bank – a return that friends say could put her at further risk, given the political situation there. Kordia’s removal seems likely since her immigration violation is clear-cut; however, her supporters emphasize that she effectively “self-deported” from Columbia’s campus life long ago and was only now treated as a priority because of her speech. Her story underscores the human toll of the crackdown: a young Palestinian woman, who sought an education in the U.S., now finds herself in a Texas jail cell for the act of protesting war and oppression. Advocates continue to monitor Kordia’s case, but with legal avenues narrowing, her expected deportation looms as one of the first tangible outcomes of this policy – a warning to others that even past student activism can trigger severe consequences.