MSU leaders and students respond to ICE detainment of student

MANKATO, Minn. (KEYC) -Last Friday, the debate over President Trump’s deportation policies hit home as an MSU-Mankato student was detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

The incident comes after detainments by ICE officials have continued to increase under the Trump administration.

In a statement to students on Monday the university’s president Edward Inch said;

“Our international students play an important role in our campus and community. They are a valued part of our campus culture. This action hurts what we try to accomplish as a university—supporting all learners to receive the education they desire to make the impact they want in their communities.”

MSU is a popular school for international students, in 2024 touting more than 17-hundred students from 105 different countries.

On Tuesday, students across campus were still processing the incident.

“I have other friends who aren’t dual-citizens and who come from Canada to the states to study and they could be at risk to just get deported. It’s just crazy,” said one student who is a dual-citizen in both the U.S. and Canada.

“I just found out because of the email and honestly it just kind of scares me because I know people that are international and it just kind of worries me for them,” another student said.

“I just feel like it’s something that a lot of people want to do something about but they’re not able to do much about it because it is the government,” said another student.

As of now, there’s still no official word on who that student was or why they were detained, and the agency has not responded to KEYC’s request for comment.

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