Columbia University student Mohsen Mahdawi was arrested by federal agents on Monday while he was in a naturalization interview at an immigration office in Vermont.
Mahdawi, a Palestinian student and green card holder, was arrested by agents with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in Colchester, Vt., according to a court filing.
Mahdawi was a leader in the pro-Palestinian protests last spring, making him the latest such activist targeted by the Trump administration. The first and most prominent foreign-born student demonstrator now in immigration custody, Mahmoud Khalil, also attended Columbia.
“The Trump administration detained Mohsen Mahdawi in direct retaliation for his advocacy on behalf of Palestinians and because of his identity as a Palestinian. His detention is an attempt to silence those who speak out against the atrocities in Gaza. It is also unconstitutional,” said attorney Luna Droubi.
The court filing said Mahdawi was targeted by a pro-Israel organization called Betar USA, which said on social media that “visa holder Mohsen Mahdawi is on our deport list.”
The Hill has reached out to DHS for comment. A spokesperson for Columbia declined to comment on the case.
The judge has already ruled Mahdawi cannot be deported for now.
The federal government is using the same legal argument against him as in other cases against international students, saying Mahdawi can be deported under a provision of immigration law that says the secretary of State can target noncitizens who have create adverse effects for the United States.
A judge ruled Friday the deportation proceedings against Khalil could move forward under that justification.
The federal government has been going after students they say are antisemitic and “pro-Hamas,” though advocates say they simply targeted those who have spoken out against Israel or in defense of the Palestinians.
In a previous interview with “60 Minutes” regarding the protests, Mahdawi had condemned an individual who came to one and yelled “death to Jews.”
“I was shocked and they walked directly to the person and they told him, ‘You don’t represent us,’” he said, adding “to be antisemitic is to be unjust and the fight for the freedom of Palestine and the fight against antisemitism go hand in hand because a threat to justice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”
