Politics
Columbia Student Arrest Citizenship Interview Case Ends in Release
At the university, Mohsen Mahdawi has organized pro-Palestinian demonstrations. For that, the Trump government is attempting to deport him.
Columbia student arrest citizenship interview
As part of an expanding crackdown on student demonstrators, immigration officials are attempting to revoke Mohsen Mahdawi‘s green card. Mahdawi was released from federal prison on Wednesday. Mahdawi was an organizer of the pro-Palestinian movement at Columbia University.
Judge Geoffrey W. Crawford of the Federal District Court in Vermont decided on Wednesday that Mr. Mahdawi was not a flight risk and did not represent a threat to the public, thereby granting him bail. The judge said it was “not our proudest moment” and compared the present political situation to McCarthyism.
Mr. Mahdawi will now be able to contest the immigration case against him from outside of a detention facility, according to his attorneys.
While other students are still being held as part of the government’s campaign, Mr. Mahdawi’s release is a setback for the Trump administration.
While protestors claim that criticism of Israel’s activities in Gaza is not antisemitic, Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said that protesters like Mr. Mahdawi have propagated antisemitism.
According to Mr. Rubio, immigration officials have the authority to expel even lawful citizens for engaging in protests that the government deems detrimental to US foreign policy objectives.
Following his release, Mr. Mahdawi adopted a belligerent stance.
He declared, “I am not afraid of you, President Trump and his cabinet. I am saying it loud and clear.”
Requests for response were not immediately answered by the Justice Department, the State Department, or the White House.
In a social media post, Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin criticized Judge Crawford’s ruling.
Without providing any proof, Ms. McLaughlin declared, “That privilege should be revoked and you should not be in this country when you advocate for violence, glorify and support terrorists that relish the killing of Americans and harass Jews.”
The 34-year-old Mr. Mahdawi had been jailed since April 14 when he was arrested by immigration officials during an appointment in Vermont that he believed was a step toward obtaining U.S. citizenship.
Judge Crawford noted Mr. Mahdawi’s deep connections to his community when he granted his freedom. Mr. Mahdawi lives in Vermont. He pointed out that the court had received over 90 statements from professors, community members, and academic specialists who know Mr. Mahdawi, “many of them Jewish,” attesting to his reputation and repeatedly characterizing him as “peaceful.”
The judge also discussed the current historical context and the “extraordinary circumstances” surrounding Mr. Mahdawi’s incarceration.
Judge Crawford remarked, “This is not the first time the country has witnessed chilling action by the government intended to shut down debate.”
Supporters of Mr. Mahdawi filled his Burlington courthouse on Wednesday, but they kept quiet when the judge gave his ruling. As Mr. Mahdawi was given permission to gather his possessions and depart right away, several people started cheering.
Mr. Mahdawi wore a plaid suit, a kaffiyeh across his shoulders, and spectacles with a gold wire rim. He raised his hands in the peace sign as he left the courthouse to a cheering greeting.
“They took me into custody. Why? Mr. Mahdawi stated, “Because I stood up and said no to war, yes to peace.” Because I said that enough was enough. It is more than plenty to kill over 50,000 Palestinians.
Mr. Mahdawi has had a green card for the last ten years and has never been charged with a crime. Instead, his activities “could undermine the Middle East peace process by reinforcing antisemitic sentiment,” according to a report written by Mr. Rubio to support his detention.
In order to stop federal authorities from moving Mr. Mahdawi to a more conservative jurisdiction, his attorneys had asked for a temporary restraining order. This strategy was employed in the arrest and attempted deportation of at least four other college protesters, including Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia graduate and lawful permanent resident who has been held in a Louisiana detention center since last month.
That plea was quickly granted by William K. Sessions III, another federal court in Vermont, who ruled that Mr. Mahdawi, who was raised in a West Bank Palestinian refugee camp, could not be transported out of Vermont or removed from the United States unless he gave his consent.
The decision to retain Mr. Mahdawi in the state was then postponed until Wednesday’s verdict by Judge Crawford.
Mr. Mahdawi’s attorneys said shortly after his release that he would be permitted to complete his Columbia academic program.
It is impossible to exaggerate today’s triumph. One of the attorneys, Shezza Abboushi Dallal, declared, “It is a victory for Mohsen who gets to walk free today out of this court.”
“And it is also a victory for everyone else in this country who is invested in the very ability to dissent, who wants to be able to speak out, without fear of being kidnapped by masked men, for the causes they feel a moral obligation to lend their voices to.”
Using the same legal mechanism that it is using to detain Mr. Khalil, the Trump administration had attempted to deport Mr. Mahdawi, arguing that his presence threatened American national security and foreign policy objectives. Although they have not shown proof, federal officials have claimed that pro-Palestinian protesters have made it easier for antisemitism to proliferate.
The Department of Homeland Security later refused to allow Mr. Khalil to attend the birth of his first child, which was delivered at a hospital in New York, after an immigration court in Louisiana ruled in April that federal agents may deport him.
Mr. Mahdawi had been hiding for a few weeks because he was afraid that immigration officers would arrest him after Mr. Khalil was caught at Columbia University’s campus housing. He requested assistance from the institution but was not given it. He was the next to be arrested, according to a social media warning from Betar, an extreme pro-Israel group.
Even though he was afraid it was a trap, he was adamant about going to an interview he had been informed was connected to his naturalization. He prepared for a citizenship exam by studying the Constitution before to the appointment and informed Vermont’s senators and representative in case something went wrong.
According to a statement issued by Vermont’s congressional delegation, Democratic Senators Peter Welch and Becca Balint, and Independent Senator Bernie Sanders, immigration agents, some of whom had their faces hidden, instead handcuffed and detained Mr. Mahdawi.
The parliamentarians remarked that Mr. Mahdawi’s fundamental right to due process had been upheld and expressed relief that he was no longer being held in custody. They claimed that he had done nothing wrong and that the federal authorities had unfairly singled him out.
In a statement, they said, “The Trump administration’s actions in this case — and in so many other cases of mistakenly detained, deported, and disappeared people — are shameful and immoral.” The announcement of Mr. Mahdawi’s release from federal prison was welcomed as a significant first step on the Columbia campus.
The release of Mohsen from illegal incarceration was “very encouraging to see the justice system at work,” said Gabriella Ramirez, a second-year graduate student and University Senate member who knows Mr. Mahdawi.
“I’m still hopeful that we’ll see a similar outcome for my classmate Mahmoud Khalil,” she continued.