A leader of the anti-Israel movement at Columbia University in the aftermath of the Hamas terror attack on Israel has been detained by immigration authorities.
Mohsen Mahdawi was summoned to the Colchester, Vermont, office of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Monday.
He expected to take a test to become a naturalized citizen. Instead, agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested him, according to the Intercept.
Mawdawi had been in the U.S. for 10 years and possesses a green card, according to the report.
“The fight for freedom of Palestine and the fight against antisemitism go hand-in-hand because injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere,” says Mohsen Mahdawi, co-president of Columbia’s Palestinian Students Union. https://t.co/xh91MwzdHe pic.twitter.com/CsBehwMWEc
— 60 Minutes (@60Minutes) December 6, 2023
The Trump administration wants to deport him to the West Bank, but is facing a legal battle to do so.
“Mohsen Mahdawi was unlawfully detained today for no reason other than his Palestinian identity,” Luna Droubi, Mahdawi’s attorney, said.
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“He came to this country hoping to be free to speak out about the atrocities he has witnessed, only to be punished for such speech.”
A federal judge has issued a temporary restraining order to keep Mahdawi from being deported until legal challenges to his detention and deportation play out.
The New York Times noted that although Mahdawi says he is a student, he is in his mid-30s.
EXCLUSIVE FOOTAGE: Columbia student and Palestinian Mohsen Madawi was just arrested during a visit to the immigration office here in Colchester, VT. More to follow. Footage by: Christopher Helali pic.twitter.com/I9JvPS2DLn
— Christopher Helali (@ChrisHelali) April 14, 2025
Mahdawi fears going to the West Bank, where violence between Israeli settlers and Palestinians is high.
“It’s kind of a death sentence,” Mahdawi said, according to the Intercept. “Because my people are being killed unjustly in an indiscriminate way.”
Mahdawi is a friend of fellow anti-Israel Columbia protester Mahmoud Khalil, and had gone into hiding to avoid being deported, the outlet reported.
He said he asked Columbia for help in finding a place where he could not be detained, but the college did not answer, he said.
“This is the outcome,” Mahdawi said. “I will be either living or imprisoned or killed by the apartheid system.”
Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont said Mahdawi should be set free.
“Mohsen Mahdawi of White River Junction, Vermont, walked into an immigration office for what was supposed to be the final step in his citizenship process,” he said, according to NBC News.
“Mr. Mahdawi, a legal resident of the United States, must be afforded due process under the law and immediately released from detention.”
The Department of Homeland Security did not comment on Mahdawi’s detention, according to NBC.
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