MARSHALL — Marshall resident Aditya Harsono has been ordered by a U.S. district judge to be immediately released from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody after being in detainment for nearly two months.

According to the 34-page decision, Judge Katherine Menendez ruled that Harsono, 34 years old and a native of Indonesia, was violated of his First Amendment rights, which she also noted applies to both citizens and non-citizens in the U.S. She ordered his release within 48 hours, which she filed on Wednesday.

“The Court finds that Mr. H has shown that he is in custody in violation of the First Amendment and is entitled to a writ of habeas corpus for his immediate release,” Menendez wrote in the ruling.

Harsono filed a habeas petition on May 2 to the federal court, which challenges the legality of one’s imprisonment.

Attorney Sarah Gad said his I-130 form was also approved on May 9, a form submitted by a legal citizen that establishes a family relationship and petitions for a relative to immigrate to the U.S. It’s the first step in the process of obtaining a green card.

Harsono originally had a pending I-130 application through his wife, Peyton, that was submitted in June 2024, and an application out for his I-485 in Feb. 2025 to adjust his status for permanent residence.

The two married in October of 2023 and have a nine-month old daughter.

Harsono was arrested by ICE without warning on March 27 at his workplace as a supply chain manager, for allegedly overstaying his Visa, which was revoked on March 23.

Harsono was in the U.S. on a student visa, issued to him on June 15, 2021, and valid through June 13, 2026. He has a bachelors and masters degree from Southwest Minnesota State University.

According to the court ruling, “Although ICE agents told Mr. H on March 28, 2025, that he was detained because he had ‘no lawful status,’ SEVIS records (a government database) confirmed that his F-1 status remained active and in good standing at that time.”

“He (Harsono) informed ICE officials that he had a valid F-1 status, was lawfully working under OPT (Optional Practical Training program), and had a pending I-485 application for adjustment of status based on his marriage. ICE officers told Mr. H that they could not verify what he was telling them because the SEVIS database was ‘down,'” the ruling also stated.

Harsono’s visa was originally revoked due to a 2022 misdemeanor charge, with the belief that he “now poses a threat to U.S. public safety,” a government memo said.

According to Harsono’s public criminal record, the misdemeanor was for graffiti vandalization on semi-trialers at the Schwan’s Treatment Plant and on a support leg of a railroad bridge. He pleaded guilty for the crime, served a 90-day suspension in the Lyon County jail, paid a fine and did a year of supervised probation, completed without incident.

ICE provided three documents on April 7 to support their removal of Harsono, according to the ruling.

Two documents included a memo referring to the misdemeanor, and the third was a dismissal order of a 2021 protest.

“As part of the ongoing removal proceedings, ICE has made repeated references to the arrest stemming from Mr. H’s presence at a protest. Despite the fact that the prosecutor responsible for that case dismissed the unlawful-assembly charge against Mr. H in the interests of justice, ICE has invoked that case in support of its efforts to keep him detained,” Menendez noted. “This further implies that his detention is motivated by his support for a particular viewpoint.”

Harsono was arrested at a 2021 protest in Minneapolis, minutes after the 11 p.m. curfew, and charges were later dropped “in the interest of justice.”

“Mr. H has demonstrated that he engaged in protected speech, both as part of his participation in protests against misuse of force by police and through his publication, on his personal and business social media accounts, of statements voicing opposition to violence in Palestine and support for the lives of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza,” Menendez wrote. “This constitutes speech on matters of public concern and therefore lies at the heart of First Amendment protection.”

Harsono went back to Indonesia after his 2021 arrest, and returned to the U.S. shortly after he reapplied for an F-1 student visa, and was approved, to pursue his graduate degree.

He also visited Indonesia last spring, and again returned back to the U.S. on April 27, 2024.

“It is also telling that Mr. H’s property-damage misdemeanor presented no barrier to his entry to the United States upon his late-April 2024 return from a trip to see his family in Indonesia,” Mendenez wrote.

Harsono was granted a $5,000 bond on April 10 by immigration judge Sarah Mazzie after posing he was “neither a danger nor a flight risk,” but the Department of Homeland Security appealed the decision and blocked the order.

“This evidence is accompanied by no explanation of how ICE became aware of Mr. H’s criminal history or why it sought out the State Department’s intervention and revocation of Petitioner’s visa, let alone what about that nearly two-year old non-violent misdemeanor illustrates a present threat to public safety,” Menendez wrote.

Menendez’s order states that Harsono is to be released immediately along with the $5,000 bond that was previously put in place.

“Had I known back in 2021 that my peaceful protest activities and social media posts would lead to my arrest in 2025, I would not have done this,” Harsono wrote in his petition, according to the court ruling. “The cost of being detained and separated from my wife and daughter is too high now.”

Harsono was being held at the Kandiyohi County Jail in Willmar.

Harsono’s release comes days after Minnesota State University Mankato student Mohammed Hoque, from Bangladesh and was detained in late March, was ordered to be released by a U.S. district judge.

Hoque also was ordered to be released on a bond set by an immigration judge at an April 9 hearing, but was appealed by the DHS and remained in custody. It was ruled that he was targeted for his political involvement on social media.