Indonesian man detained by Ice after US secretly revokes his visa over a past misdemeanour

An Indonesian student, who was detained by agents from the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) after the authorities secretly revoked his visa, will remain in custody as the immigration judge has allowed the case to proceed. The father of an infant with special needs was detained by federal agents while he was working at a hospital in Minnesota.

On Saturday, Judge Sarah Mazzie denied a motion to dismiss the case against Aditya Wahyu Harsono on humanitarian grounds. The 33-year-old was arrested four days after his visa was revoked without notice. He is scheduled for another hearing on May 1. “His wife has been in a state of shock and exhaustion,” Sarah Gad, Harsono’s lawyer, said. “The Department of Homeland Security has weaponised the immigration system to serve just an entirely different purpose, which is to instil fear.”

Harsono is a supply chain manager at a hospital in Marshall, Minnesota. He is married to an American citizen and was surprised when authorities arrested him on March 27. Gad noted that the Indonesian man was detained without a clear explanation and interrogated for hours.

Visa revoked for past misdemeanour

Harsono’s wife, Peyton, called Gad in a panic after she received a call from human resources at the hospital. She learned that two ICE agents, dressed in plain clothes, had shown up and instructed the staff to stage a fake meeting in the basement so they could apprehend him, according to Gad.

The lawyer said the hospital staff was distraught by the whole exchange and forced to comply. “He unsuspectedly walks in, smiling, and then they just pull out their handcuffs and forcibly detain him, pushing against the wall, start frisking him and stripping all of his belongings,” Gad said.

Harsono was then brought to the Kandiyohi County Jail, where he is still detained, according to the ICE detainee locator. During the interrogation, the Indonesian man told authorities that his F-1 student visa was valid through June 2026 and he had a pending green card application based on his marriage to a citizen.

Meanwhile, his attorney said that as of March 28, the day after his arrest, his F-1 visa was still active. Gad said the government revoked it without any notice and claimed he had overstayed. The court learned that the revocation was backdated to March 23 and was allegedly based on his 2022 misdemeanour conviction for graffitiing a semi-truck trailer.

Gad argued that it is not a deportable offence under the Immigration and Nationality Act. She mentioned that since then, Harsono has travelled internationally and returned multiple times without any issues.

The day before Harsono’s bond hearing, DHS disclosed their evidence against him. Besides stating that his visa was revoked for the misdemeanour graffiti conviction, for which he paid $100 in restitution, they also mentioned an arrest from 2021 during a protest over the murder of George Floyd.

That charge was dismissed. It is pertinent to note that Harsono is a Muslim man and has often posted in support of Gaza on his social media. He also runs a small non-profit, which sells art and merchandise, with proceeds going to organizations aiding Gaza.

With inputs from agencies.