Aditya Harsono, who came to the US in 2015 to pursue a bachelor’s degree in environmental science from Southwest Minnesota State University, was detained on March 27 by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) “just days after his student visa was suddenly revoked without warning,” Aditya’s wife, Peyton Harsono, wrote in a fundraising page she set up on the GoFundMe crowdfunding platform.
Aditya enrolled in the same university’s MBA programme in 2022, according to The New York Times. In addition to his F-1 student visa, he has a pending green card application through his marriage to Peyton, an American citizen.
Sarah Gad, Aditya’s lawyer, told the NYT the Indonesian’s visa revocation was allegedly based on a misdemeanour conviction in 2022, after he drew graffiti on a semi-truck trailer.
Aditya was also arrested in 2021 for breaking curfew during a protest in Minneapolis against the murder of George Floyd, a charge later dismissed by prosecutors, Gad said.
Aditya, who is a Muslim, has also reportedly sold art and merchandise to help Palestinian victims of the Israel-Gaza war. “We fear his political activism played a role in targeting him,” his wife wrote.
