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The federal Board of Immigration Appeals has dismissed the Trump administration’s appeal of  an immigration judge’s order earlier this year releasing a Marshall man from Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention.

Aditya Harsono, 34, was arrested at the Marshall hospital where he worked in March for allegedly overstaying his student visa. He later discovered it the visa had been revoked days before and without his knowledge, based on a criminal background check revealing a misdemeanor conviction for property damage. 

Harsono was held behind bars in the Kandiyohi County Jail by ICE for nearly two months, until a federal immigration judge ordered his release on a $5,000 bond, ruling that the husband and father of an infant daughter was not a dangerous threat nor a flight risk.

The Trump administration challenged the federal judge’s order, arguing that Harsono would “pose a present danger to persons or property,” according to court documents. Justice Department lawyers also argued the federal judge did not have the authority to release Harsono from custody. 

However, the Board of Immigration Appeals ruled that the immigration judge was fully within her discretion to order Harsono’s release on bond. 

Harsono’s attorney Sarah Gad says the Department of Homeland Security has no legal basis to detain her client further. 

“We also never fathomed that the Trump administration or DHS would be appealing that bond, and [they were] hoping to stay to effectively hold him without bond, for somebody who’s not a flight risk or danger to public safety,” Gad told MPR News. “It’s a relief to be able to tell [the Harsono family] that you don’t have to worry at all.” 

“The bond is final,” Gad added. “It’s just a relief. It’s been a long road.”

Harsono came to the United States from Indonesia in 2015 as an undergraduate student at Southwest Minnesota State University. 

While he was in ICE custody in the Kandiyohi County Jail , Harsono told MPR News that he believed his detainment was politically motivated, because he had been arrested for unlawful assembly while protesting the April, 2021 police killing of Daunte Wright. That charge was later dismissed.

Harsono was, however, convicted of a misdemeanor for criminal damage to property in July of 2022.

In its notice rejecting the Department of Homeland Security’s appeal, the Board of Immigration Appeals stated that Harsono’s arrests “occurred several years ago and that he only had a single conviction.” 

The notice also states that Harsono’s conduct since the misdemeanor conviction included no additional arrests and completed probation, “demonstrated that he has not continued in a course of criminal conduct, and that beyond that, he is not presently a danger to persons or property.”

The Board of Immigration Appeals went on to dismiss the DHS appeal and wrote that Harsono posed no flight risk or danger, adding that “We are unpersuaded that the Immigration Judge’s factual findings on the dangerousness issue are clearly erroneous or that her decision is unreasonable.”

According to its website, the Board of Immigration Appeals is a panel of immigration judges and “is the highest administrative body for interpreting and applying immigration laws.” The BIA is an agency within the U.S. Department of Justice, but “is directed to exercise its independent judgment in hearing appeals for the Attorney General.” 

After his arrest in March, Gad and other attorneys working on Harsono’s behalf had filed a habeas corpus petition — a legal request to a federal court — challenging the legality of Harsono’s detention and asked the court for his release. 

Harsono’s green card application is progressing, with a spousal interview scheduled for Sept. 15 at noon. He’s currently living back at his home in Marshall with his wife Peyton and daughter Adalet. 

Gad says her client’s feeling “relieved” about the appeal decision, and that he’s now able to focus solely on getting his green card application approved. 

“Mr. Harsono is back with his family, and it seems it’s going to stay that way,” Gad said. “That’s kind of been our goal all along. And that day where we have to stop wondering and worrying, that day has come where we no longer have to worry about that, and we can reassure them of that.”

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The federal Board of Immigration Appeals has dismissed the Trump administration’s appeal of an immigration judge’s order earlier this year releasing a Marshall man from Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention.

Ben Hovland | MPR News

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Board rejects Trump administration’s appeal of Marshall man’s release from ICE custody

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