MBA Student Sues Trump Over His Detention

For Doğukan Günaydın, a 28-year-old MBA student at the Carlson School of Management, last Thursday began like any school day.

At 9:30 a.m., the 28-year-old stepped out of his home in St. Paul on his way to classes at the University of Minnesota when he was abruptly surrounded by a group of people in hooded sweatshirts. He was handcuffed and then put into a car. Gunaydin says he feared he was being kidnapped.

Instead, he was driven to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) office in St. Paul where the student from Turkey was told his student visa was revoked, though ICE officials would not tell him why.

HIS VISA WAS REVOKED SEVEN HOURS AFTER HIS ARREST BY ICE

ICE was apparently wrong. It wasn’t until roughly 4 p.m. that afternoon that the online government registry of international student visa information showed that his visa had been revoked. The system failed to explain the revocation clearly but listed him as having failed to maintain legal status. It turned out he was arrested and his student visa revoked due to a DUI two years earlier. The student now sits in a jail cell at Sherburne County Jail, which contracts with ICE to hold their detainees. The jail is 35 miles northwest of downtown Minneapolis. Gunaydin was told he would face an immigration judge on April 8.

Those are the details alleged in a federal lawsuit Günaydın has filed against President Trump and several other U.S. officials, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, alleging that his student visa was unlawfully terminated and violated his due process rights by detaining him without charging him with an immigration violation. The lawsuit asks a federal judge to order his release from custody and reinstate his legal student status.

Born in Istanbul, Turkey, Günaydın has by all accounts been an exemplary student. He was a high-achieving young student at Üsküdar American Academy in İstanbul, becoming valedictorian even while dealing with the loss of his mother from cancer. While earning an international baccalaureate diploma at United World College Maastricht in the Netherlands in 2016, Günaydın delivered a TEDx talk called The Game of Education. He came to the U.S. and under a full scholarship graduated in 2021 with a degree in computer science and quantitative economics from St. Olaf College, a private liberal arts college in Northfield, Minnesota. At Olaf, he was an admissions tour guide. Günaydın landed a job with Capital Advisors in Bloomington, MN, as an automation consultant.

After a three-year stint with the firm, the University of Minnesota’s Carlson School of Management awarded him a scholarship to its STEM-designated Management Science MBA program. He started his classes at Carlson last fall and has maintained a high grade-point average while serving in the MBA Student Association. Günaydın expected to graduate in May of 2026. On his LinkedIn profile, he describes himself as a “motivated and analytical professional seeking growth opportunities to collaborate and solve complex business problems. Initiative-taker and dependable team player with a strong quantitative background, thriving in fast-paced environments.”

AN MBA STUDENT ON SCHOLARSHIP TAKEN INTO CUSTODY BY ICE

According to Günaydın’s lawsuit, the federal government had not provided Günaydın or his attorney with a charging document or explained why he was arrested as of the time the lawsuit was filed on March 30.

“Mr. Günaydın has attended no protests, and written no politically-driven publications,” the lawsuit says. “He is a STEM MBA student focused on finance and business consulting.”

Günaydın was arrested in Minneapolis in June 2023 for driving with a blood-alcohol level more than twice the legal limit of .08. Police reports show that he almost hit a stop light, then jumped a curb, after which wove in and out of his lane until failing to signal a lane change and cutting off another vehicle. When the police officer finally pulled him over and got out of his squad car, Günaydın drove away. The officer had to call for more assistance to finally track him down.

Günaydın pleaded guilty to driving while impaired, a gross misdemeanor, court records show. But the plea petition that he signed made it clear that because he was not a citizen of the United States, his guilty plea “may result in deportation, exclusion from admission to the United States, or denial of naturalization as a United States citizen.”

According to the lawsuit, he “served his sentence, and complied with all conditions of his release. Importantly, Mr. Günaydın has committed no crime that is cause for termination of his Student Status or that renders him deportable,” according to the lawsuit.

GOVERNMENT CITES TWO LEGAL PROVISIONS FOR REVOKING HIS VISA

According to the lawsuit, his visa was terminated pursuant to the Immigration Nationality Act, citing two provisions of the law that might apply in his case.

The first of these provisions says “any alien who was admitted as a nonimmigrant and who has failed to maintain the nonimmigrant status in which the alien was admitted” can be deported.

The second provision relates to politics. If the Secretary of State believes a noncitizen’s presence “would have potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States,” that person is deportable.

LAWSUIT ALLEGES HE WAS ARRESTED BEFORE HIS STUDENT STATUS WAS TERMINATED

Neither provision, his lawyer argues,  is a proper basis for terminating student status, and neither apply to Günaydın’s case.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) provides a list of reasons online that students may lose their student status, such as failing to maintain a full course load, expulsion or working without authorization.

“A conviction for driving while intoxicated is not a reason for [Designated School Officials] or DHS termination,” his lawyer claims in the lawsuit. It also maintains that DHS also does not say on its website that losing student status could result in immediate arrest and detention.

NOT INVOLVED IN POLITICS OR FOEIGN POLLICY

Because Günaydın was arrested before his student status was terminated, the lawsuit argues that losing his student status cannot logically be a reason for his arrest. The foreign policy provisions do not appear to apply in this case, according to his lawsuit.

“Mr. Günaydın has participated in no activities nor made any public comments or statements related to politics or the United States foreign policy,” the lawsuit says. “At no point after Mr. Günaydın’s arrest did any federal official indicate he was being charged as deportable under this statute. Neither Mr. Günaydın nor his counsel has been provided with any document or indication that he may be facing a charge related to national security or foreign policy.”

DHS, moreover, provided two possible reasons for the termination of Günaydın’s student status, according to the lawsuit. “DHS appears to be unclear about the actual basis for terminating Mr. Günaydın’s Student Status,” it says.

The lawsuit asks a federal judge to release Günaydın pending further proceedings and restore his student status.

“Extraordinary circumstances exist that make Doğukan’s release essential for the remedy to be effective,” the lawsuit concludes. “Even if he is ultimately freed, as long as Doğukan remains in ICE’s physical custody, he will be prevented from speaking freely and openly and his unlawful detention will serve to chill others.”

DON’T MISS: U.S. Revokes Student Visa For Carlson Student Over A DUI or Graduate Student At Carlson School Detained By ICE