U.S. judge orders release of Mohsen Mahdawi, Palestinian arrested at citizenship interview
Judge compares U.S. government's pursuit of grad student to communist Red Scare of last century
A judge on Wednesday released a Palestinian man who led protests against the war in Gaza as a student at Columbia University and was arrested by immigration officials during an interview about finalizing his U.S. citizenship.
Mohsen Mahdawi led supporters in chants that included "No fear" and "Free Palestine," outside the court in Burlington, Vt. He said people must come together in defence of both democracy and humanity.
"Never give up on the idea that justice will prevail," he said. "We want to stand up for humanity, because the rest of the world — not only Palestine — is watching us. And what is going to happen in America is going to affect the rest of the world."
Mahdawi's notice to appear in immigration court said he is removable under the Immigration and Nationality Act because U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio determined his presence and activities "would have serious adverse foreign policy consequences and would compromise a compelling U.S. foreign policy interest."
His lawyers said Mahdawi — a legal permanent resident for 10 years — was detained in retaliation for his speech advocating for Palestinian human rights.
U.S. District Judge Geoffrey Crawford issued his ruling on Wednesday following a hearing on Mahdawi, who was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents on April 14.
The government has argued his detention is a "constitutionally valid aspect of the deportation process" and that district courts are barred from hearing challenges to how and when such proceedings are begun.
'He followed all of the rules'
A group of U.S. Congress members held a rally in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday night, pressing for Mahdawi's release.
"He followed all of the rules," said Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent who caucuses with Democrats. "He followed the law. But instead of completing the process, Mohsen was illegally detained. Armed, masked individuals in plain clothes arrested him, forced him into a car and refused to provide any information as to where they were taking him or why."
According to a court filing, Mahdawi was born in a refugee camp in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and moved to the United States in 2014. He recently completed coursework at Columbia University in New York and was expected to graduate in May before beginning a master's degree program there in the fall.
As a student, Mahdawi was an outspoken critic of Israel's military campaign in Gaza and organized campus protests until March 2024.
He helped found the Palestinian Student Union at Columbia along with Mahmoud Khalil, another Palestinian permanent resident and U.S. graduate student who was detained by immigration authorities and sent to a facility in Louisiana.
"Even if he were a firebrand, his conduct is protected by the First Amendment," the judge wrote, adding that offending political opponents or alarming the State Department doesn't make him dangerous enough to justify detention.
Immigration hearing on Thursday
A government attorney said Wednesday that Mahdawi is a national security threat, pointing to a 2015 FBI investigation into allegations that he made threatening comments about Jews at a gun shop — but the judge said the FBI appears to have determined those accusations were fabricated.
Mahdawi will appear remotely before an immigration judge in Louisiana on Thursday, his lawyers said. The U.S. attorney's office did not respond to messages seeking comment on whether it will appeal his release.
Mahdawi had been held in state, at the Northwest State Correctional Facility in St. Albans, Vt., in contrast to Khalil and Rumeysa Ozturk, a doctoral student from Boston-area Tufts University, who were each sent to federal detention facilities several states away from where they resided.
More than 1,000 college students nationwide have had their visas revoked or their legal status terminated since late March, according to an Associated Press review. The federal government has since announced it will reverse the termination of legal status for international students after many filed court challenges, a government lawyer said Friday.
The judge referred to the Ozturk case and others like it in his ruling, saying such arrests are reminiscent of Red Scare nationwide raids targeting suspected anarchists and communists in 1919 and 1920 and deportations during the McCarthy era of the 1950s.
"Security is like liberty in that many are the crimes committed in its name," Crawford wrote, quoting from a dissent in a 1950 case.
Legal objections to deportations are among the some 200 lawsuits the Trump administration has already spawned through 100 days of the presidency, with lawyers for the plaintiffs arguing their First Amendment rights of free speech and assembly were violated.
"This is the first order mandating the release of a student arrested by Trump in retaliation for their speech," the American Civil Liberties Union, advocating for Mahdawi, said in a social media post not long after his release.
Mahdawi's release allows him to travel outside his home state of Vermont and attend graduation next month in New York. He recently completed coursework at Columbia and planned to begin a master's degree program there in the fall. The Ivy League university has faced criticism from some students for agreeing to implement a host of policy changes demanded by the Trump administration.
With files from CBC News and Reuters