University of Maryland School of Pharmacy instructor Berhanu Kibret was in Texas this month to attend an industry association annual meeting, where he had been honored as a “teacher of the year,” according to university officials.
“Grateful for the opportunity to learn, share, and contribute to the future of pharmacy education,” Kibret shared in a post on LinkedIn of the meeting of the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy.
But on July 21, after leaving from the meeting, he was detained by federal agents at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport, University of Maryland, Baltimore, spokesperson Alex Likowski said. The School of Pharmacy is located on the UMB campus.
Kibret will remain in custody pending immigration proceedings for overstaying his visa, according to a statement from a U.S. Department of Homeland Security spokesperson.
The Banner could not find Kibret in a government database tracking people detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement or the name of his attorney.
Likowski said Kibret has valid work authorization and university officials hope he will be allowed to continue working there.
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Just a week after Kibret was detained, Johns Hopkins University public health researcher Fatima Ameaka was arrested by immigration agents while boarding a domestic flight out of Baltimore. The reason federal authorities gave for Ameaka’s detention was also allegedly overstaying a visa.
Both arrests appear to be part of a larger immigration enforcement campaign targeting airports. ICE has begun working with the Transportation Security Administration to arrest people with expired visas or with outstanding deportation orders, the New York Times and other media outlets have reported.
The strategy could also conflict with the Trump administration’s original goal of the mass deportation campaign, which officials said would target violent criminals, whom the president called “the worst of the worst.”
Kelly Rojas, an immigration law attorney at the Amica Center for Immigrant Rights, said, until recently, it was not common for people to be apprehended at airports.
The program, which provides free legal representation, has seen “unprecedented levels of detention” in the last weeks. About a dozen people were detained in airports in the D.C. region, Rojas said. Most of them were passengers on domestic flights, which Rojas called “unusual” and “alarming.”
All of the people entered on a valid visa that they overstayed, she said. A number of them had a pending application to a legal status, including people who applied for asylum or who married a U.S. citizen.
The increase of arrests at airports could be due to the Trump administration deportation quota and the pressure to deport as many people as possible, Rojas said. Airports could make an easy logistical site to target people and arrange an arrest, she said.
What concerns Rojas is that immigration officers are not looking at the cases closely for discretionary factors. There’s no distinction for someone who has applied for a clear path of citizenship, she said.
Kibret entered the U.S. on June 21, 2021, on a visa that was set to expire May 31, 2024, according to a DHS statement emailed to The Banner on Friday.
Kibret has worked at the University of Maryland, Baltimore, since 2023. Before that, he worked at William Paterson University, according to LinkedIn. His research has focused on the causes and treatment of drug addiction.
The university is “greatly troubled” by Kibret’s detention, Likowski said.
“He is an effective and beloved teacher, and a highly regarded colleague,” he wrote. “His detention will certainly generate not only great sympathy for his plight, but also a heightened sense of apprehension here on campus.”
Banner reporter Ellie Wolfe contributed to this article.
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