Judge denies release of Maryland university instructor from ICE detention

University of Maryland School of Pharmacy instructor Berhanu Kibret will remain in immigration detention, where he has been held for four weeks, a judge ruled this week.

Kibret appeared virtually for a hearing at Aurora Immigration Court in Colorado on Friday, according to his attorney. He has been held at an Oklahoma detention center since his arrest at a Dallas airport last month shortly after he won a teacher of the year award.

His attorney, Saron Berhe, said she argued at Friday’s hearing that Kibret should be released on bond. But a judge’s ruling released Monday night denied that request, keeping Kibret in custody.

“I don’t believe the evidence was properly weighed and the decision is unfounded in light of the record as a whole,” Berhe wrote in a text message to The Banner. She declined to share a copy of the judge’s decision and added that she is not able to provide more details at this time.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security said they arrested Kibret because he had overstayed a visa. But his attorneys and employer say he has a valid work permit and permission to be in the U.S. through a separate, pending application. A DHS spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the judge’s ruling.

Sarah L. J. Michel, the dean of the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy, said the school was disappointed by the news.

“We are concerned for his welfare but remain hopeful this matter will be resolved soon,” Michel wrote in a statement. “We are continuing to monitor this situation and evaluating the impact on the fall semester and on the students who Dr. Kibret serves.”

The University of Maryland, Baltimore, has collected letters of support from current and former colleagues and school leaders that were used to argue for Kibret’s release. They served as character references to show that Kibret has strong ties to the community, has good moral character, and is not a flight risk, according to Berhe.

The university has also assembled a support network to help Kibret with any needs he may have in case he is released, she said. Current and former colleagues have described him as a talented teacher and dedicated researcher.

He was hired to teach pharmacology full time at the University of Maryland, Baltimore, in 2023. There, he teaches first-year pharmacy students how drugs work in the body and about drug safety and efficacy, Michel has said.

Kibret is assigned to resume teaching in the fall, Michel said in an email last week.

Previously, Kibret was a postdoctoral research fellow and adjunct professor at William Paterson University in New Jersey.

He has continued to collaborate with his longtime mentor Emmanuel Onaivi, who teaches biology at William Paterson, on research into drugs and addiction, with a goal of finding ways to reduce pain without using addictive substances like opioids.

Onaivi described Kibret as an “outstanding individual” and thoughtful scholar who financially supports a wife and two young children who have remained in Ethiopia.

In an email to the Banner on Tuesday, Onaivi said the judge’s decision to deny Kibret bond was “devastating and frustrating.”

Kibret is one of two Maryland academics recently swept up in the Trump administration’s increasingly aggressive campaign to target immigrants as they travel. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has been working with the Transportation Security Administration to arrest people whose visas have expired or who have outstanding deportation orders, according to national media reports.

Fatima Ameaka, a Johns Hopkins University public health researcher from Cameroon, was arrested a week after Kibret while she was boarding a flight out of Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport. She was released after a few days in ICE detention and is now awaiting her next court hearing.