US attorneys challenge ruling that U of M student can’t be deported

Attorneys for the U.S. government on Monday filed a memorandum challenging a ruling that Turkish University of Minnesota student Doğukan Günaydın can’t be deported.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested Günaydın on March 27. A senior official with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said his student visa was revoked because of a 2023 DWI conviction.

A federal judge last week ruled that “Respondents shall not remove, transfer, or otherwise facilitate the removal of Günaydın from the District of Minnesota,” and that “No other person or agency shall remove, transfer, or otherwise facilitate the removal of Günaydın from the District of Minnesota on Respondent’s behalf.”

Now, attorneys for the defendants are challenging that ruling.

“This Court does not have jurisdiction to review ICE’s decision to institute removal proceedings or to determine what charges fit the facts presented,” the memorandum reads. It adds that the Supreme Court has consistently affirmed that detention pending removal proceeds is constitutional and that it “has never required the government to bear the burden of justifying that detention.”

Günaydın had previously pleaded guilty to the DWI charge, in which he acknowledged that he could face deportation due to that conviction.

However, Günaydın has since filed a lawsuit against ICE, arguing his constitutional rights were violated because he was arrested before his student visa had been revoked.

During a bond hearing in April, U.S. prosecutors asked to keep Günaydın in jail until his case is through, telling the judge he is a danger to public safety because of his DWI arrest. They argue that just because someone didn’t die as a result of his drunken driving doesn’t mean he didn’t put people’s safety at risk.

Günaydın’s attorney, however, pointed to the police report from that arrest, saying he wasn’t speeding, didn’t try to evade police and has stayed out of trouble ever since.