DHS says Berhanu Kibret’s visa expired in May 2024. UMB says he nevertheless had valid work authorization. The unanswered question is what the university’s own records showed — and whether anyone was keeping them current.
By Michael Phillips | MDBayNews
Dr. Berhanu Kibret has taught at the University of Maryland, Baltimore’s School of Pharmacy since 2023. Federal officials say his visa expired more than two years ago, on May 31, 2024. He kept teaching, kept publishing, and this July was named a national Teacher of the Year — right before Immigration and Customs Enforcement detained him at a Texas airport on his way home.
That gap — a lapsed visa that apparently went unaddressed for roughly two years while its holder remained on the university’s payroll — is the part of this story that hasn’t gotten much scrutiny. Most of the coverage so far has focused on Kibret’s detention. The more useful question for Maryland taxpayers and UMB’s own community is what happened, or didn’t happen, on campus before ICE ever got involved.
“The more useful question for Maryland taxpayers and UMB’s own community is what happened, or didn’t happen, on campus before ICE ever got involved.”
What UMB is actually required to do
“The open question is what happened after that.”
This isn’t a gray area. Under federal law, every employer in the country — including UMB — must complete a Form I-9 and verify unexpired work-authorization documents at the time of hire. UMB’s own Human Resource Services office says as much on its website: all new employees, including international staff, must clear E-Verify and present original, unexpired documentation. UMB also maintains its own Office of International Services (OIS), which its website says handles visa and work-authorization matters — including H-1B extensions and status changes — for foreign national faculty and staff.
None of that is in dispute, and nothing in the public record suggests UMB skipped these steps when it hired Kibret in 2023. The documents he presented at hire were very likely valid — his visa didn’t expire until the following year.
The open question is what happened after that. When an employee presents temporary employment authorization that requires reverification, federal I-9 rules require the employer to reverify that authorization by its applicable expiration date. What isn’t publicly known is what work-authorization document Kibret presented to UMB, whether it required reverification, and what expiration date — if any — the university was tracking. Those are fair, specific questions — not accusations — and UMB has not yet answered them.
The university’s public statement, and what it leaves out
“A university that wants credit for expressing concern owes its community a fuller accounting of its own paperwork.”
After Kibret’s arrest, UMB put out a statement calling him a highly regarded member of the pharmacy faculty and saying it hoped his status would be resolved quickly. The university also said he holds “valid work authorization.” That claim is plausible — federal law does allow someone to hold a valid Employment Authorization Document tied to a separate, pending immigration application even after an earlier visa has expired — but UMB hasn’t explained which document it means, when it was issued, or whether the university’s own files reflect it. A university that wants credit for expressing concern owes its community a fuller accounting of its own paperwork, not just a defense of the employee’s.
Kibret’s attorney, Ronia Dubbaneh, has said he has an application pending with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and that federal law lets him remain in the country while it’s decided. She declined to specify what relief he’s seeking. That’s a claim about his legal status — it says nothing about whether UMB’s internal compliance process kept pace with it.
The federal side of the story, briefly
DHS’s account of the arrest itself is straightforward and, as far as the public record shows, not contested on the facts: Kibret entered the U.S. in June 2021 on a visa that expired in May 2024, he remained in the country after that, and ICE detained him at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport on July 21 as he returned from a pharmacy conference in Texas. He’s been held since at the Diamondback Correctional Facility, about 70 miles northwest of Oklahoma City. His attorney says she hasn’t yet received formal charges or a hearing date, which is worth noting as a process detail — but enforcing an expired-visa case is, on its face, ICE doing the job Congress has assigned it, not an example of overreach.
Not an isolated case
“Two Baltimore-area research institutions. Two foreign nationals with lapsed underlying visas. Two claims that valid work authorization remained in place.”
Kibret’s situation isn’t unique in Baltimore this summer. On July 28, Fatima Ameaka, a Johns Hopkins University researcher from Cameroon, was detained by ICE at BWI Thurgood Marshall Airport on a similar overstay allegation. She was released four days later and now faces a pending asylum hearing. Attorneys for both Ameaka and Kibret say their clients held valid, unexpired work permits tied to pending immigration applications at the time of arrest.
Two Baltimore-area research institutions, two foreign nationals with lapsed underlying visas, two cases where the employee’s own attorney says the paperwork was in order — UMB has echoed that claim for Kibret specifically; Hopkins hasn’t made the same claim about Ameaka publicly, though it has expressed support for her. If the broader pattern holds up, it points less to ICE behaving unusually and more to a basic institutional question: how closely are Maryland’s major research universities actually tracking the immigration status of the international faculty and researchers they employ, once the ink on the hiring paperwork is dry?
“When was Kibret’s I-9 last re-verified? Did UMB have a current record of his employment authorization on July 21?”
What we’re asking UMB
MDBayNews has not yet put these specific questions to UMB on the record: When was Kibret’s I-9 last re-verified? Did OIS have a current record of his status as of July 2026? Has the university audited other foreign national faculty files in light of this case? That outreach is a standing gap in this story, and we’ll update it with UMB’s response.
Kibret’s academic credentials aren’t in dispute. He holds a doctorate in pharmacology from Addis Ababa University, previously worked as a postdoctoral researcher and adjunct professor at William Paterson University, and his published research focuses on cannabinoid receptors and the treatment of addiction. He’s scheduled to teach coursework this fall and spring on the legal framework for drug regulation and drug chemistry — assuming his case is resolved by then.
Sources: Statements from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (Aug. 3, 2026) and the University of Maryland, Baltimore; UMB Human Resource Services employment-eligibility guidance and UMB Office of International Services guidance on H-1B and J-1 status (umaryland.edu); reporting and attorney interviews from the Baltimore Banner (“ICE arrests of two Baltimore academics shake Maryland universities,” Aug. 4, 2026, and “A Maryland man won ‘teacher of the year.’ Then ICE grabbed him at an airport.,” Aug. 3, 2026); CBS News Baltimore; and Dr. Kibret’s faculty research profile at the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy.
Keep MDBayNews Reporting Free
MDBayNews exists to help Marylanders understand decisions made by state and local leaders — especially when those decisions affect daily life, rights, and public services.
If this article helped clarify what’s happening or why it matters, reader support makes it possible to keep publishing clear, independent reporting like this.
Have a tip or documents to share?
We review submissions carefully and confidentially. Anonymous tips are welcome when appropriate.
Discover more from Maryland Bay News
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.