Mohsen Mahdawi, 34, is a permanent resident of Vermont who had led protests at Columbia University against the war in the Gaza Strip.
A federal judge on April 30 ordered the release of a Palestinian man who led protests at Columbia University against the war in the Gaza Strip and was arrested by immigration authorities during his naturalization interview.
Judge Geoffrey Crawford of the District Court for the District of Vermont ruled that Mohsen Mahdawi, a 34-year-old permanent resident, may return to his home in Vermont and continue his studies at Columbia, where he is expected to graduate this spring while his case proceeds.
Mahdawi grew up in a Palestinian refugee camp in the West Bank and moved to the United States in 2014, court filings suggest. He was
arrested on April 14 by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers at a Citizenship and Immigration Services office in Vermont, during what was supposed to be one of his final steps in becoming a U.S. citizen.
He is among several international students detained in recent months for their involvement in campus protests against Israel’s military response to the Oct. 7, 2023, attack by the terrorist group Hamas. At Columbia, Mahdawi co-founded the Palestinian Student Union alongside fellow student Mahmoud Khalil, who is contesting his own arrest and detention.
The Trump administration is pursuing deportation proceedings against Mahdawi, Khalil, and several others under a provision of U.S. immigration law that allows the removal of foreign nationals whose presence is deemed to pose “potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences” as determined by the secretary of state.
In Khalil’s case, for instance, the Department of Justice cited a
memo from Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who said the student’s activism could undermine “U.S. policy to combat anti-Semitism around the world and in the United States, in addition to efforts to protect Jewish students from harassment and violence in the United States.” The department reportedly submitted a similar letter to justify the actions against Mahdawi.
Attorneys for Mahdawi
argue that his detention is unlawful, saying it violates his “First Amendment protected speech advocating for Palestinian human rights.” The government, meanwhile, maintains that Mahdawi’s detention is a constitutionally valid part of the deportation process and that the district court lacks jurisdiction.
The case has drawn the attention of Vermont’s U.S. Senate delegation. Sen. Peter Welch, a Democrat,
visited Mahdawi at the facility where he is being held. Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent socialist who caucuses with Democrats, joined a rally outside the State Department calling for Mahdawi’s release.
“Mr. Mahdawi is a legal resident of the United States, and like all legal residents and citizens, he must be afforded due process under the law,” Sanders
said.
Mahdawi is still scheduled for a hearing date in immigration court in Louisiana on May 1.
The departments of Justice and Homeland Security did not respond to a request for comments. The government is expected to appeal the April 30 decision.
It is already challenging a separate decision by a different Vermont judge who ordered the return of Rumeysa Ozturk, a detained Turkish student at Tufts University, to the state.
