Appeals Court Blocks Release of Palestinian Student in Vermont

The pro-Palestinian protester’s case was sent back to district court for dismissal while he faces deportation proceedings.

Mohsen Mahdawi speaks during an interview at the ACLU of Vermont in Montpelier, Vt., on May 8, 2025. AP Photo/Alex Driehaus, File

A federal appeals court ruled on July 21 that a district court judge in Vermont overstepped his authority last year when he ordered the release of a foreign student facing deportation by the Trump administration over pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia University.

The Second Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in a unanimous decision to vacate the lower court’s decision and return Palestinian student Mohsen Mahdawi’s case to be dismissed.

The three-judge panel found the lower court should have allowed Mahdawi’s case to proceed fully through the federal immigration court system before taking it.

Circuit Judge Debra Ann Livingston wrote in the ruling that the district court judge also erred in ruling that Mahdawi would have succeeded in showing that the government unlawfully targeted him based on First Amendment-protected activity.

“We conclude that the district court should not have reached this question because it did not have subject matter jurisdiction over the habeas petition,” Livingston wrote.

The ruling mirrors another high-profile case at Columbia University against student Mahmoud Khalil. In that case, Khalil must also fully exhaust his options in the immigration courts, a Third Circuit panel wrote.

Mahdawi, 35, a lawful permanent resident since 2015, is appealing an order of removal against him in immigration court.

He was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents on April 14, 2025, while interviewing for his citizenship application in an immigration field office in Vermont.

The arrest was based on Mahdawi’s participation in campus protests against Israeli military operations in Gaza after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led terrorist attack on Israel.

The ACLU filed a legal challenge the same day as his arrest. Mahdawi was released two weeks later and graduated from Columbia later that year.

The American Civil Liberties Union Foundation (ACLU) is handling Mahdawi’s legal challenges, with the assistance of Vermont and New York law firms.

The ACLU issued a statement after the latest decision, saying it does not immediately go into effect for their client and “the government has no lawful basis to redetain or deport Mr. Mahdawi as the appeals process proceeds.”

The organization promised to continue its legal challenge.

“The government is claiming the unprecedented power to detain people for months or even years on end to censor their speech, with no ability to challenge their detention in court,” said Michael Tan, deputy director of the ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project, who argued on behalf of Mahdawi last year. “This is absurd and dangerous. We will continue to fight for our client and for his right to prompt judicial review.”

The Vermont District Court issued a restraining order in April 2025 prohibiting the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) from deporting Mahdawi.

Earlier this year, immigration judge Nina Fróes dismissed the deportation case against Mahdawi on grounds that the government failed to authenticate a memo from Secretary of State Marco Rubio that declared him deportable under the Immigration and Nationality Act.

The DHS can refile the case based on the same charge.

The act provides that any alien admitted to the United States who “endorses or espouses terrorist activity” is deportable, according to the Center for Immigration Studies.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security did not immediately return a request for comment about the ruling.