A Palestinian student at Columbia University entered a Vermont immigration office on Monday with the hope of initiating the final step towards becoming a US citizen. However, instead of undergoing an interview, Mohsen Mahdawi – who has resided in the United States for a decade – was taken into custody in handcuffs.
Immigration officials detained Mahdawi, a prominent organizer of pro-Palestinian protests on campus a year prior, at a US Citizenship and Immigration Services facility in Colchester, Vermont, where he lives, his lawyer informed CNN. His detention appears to be part of a broader effort by the Trump administration to suppress pro-Palestinian protesters from last spring.
A Vermont District judge has since issued a temporary restraining order preventing his removal from the US or Vermont.
“The Trump administration detained Mohsen Mahdawi in direct retaliation for his advocacy on behalf of Palestinians and because of his identity as a Palestinian,” Mahdawi’s attorney, Luna Droubi, stated to CNN. “His detention is an attempt to silence those who speak out against the atrocities in Gaza. It is also unconstitutional.”
The Department of Homeland Security directed CNN to the State Department, which declined to comment on the matter at this time.
Mahdawi, a senior at Columbia, stepped back from his pro-Palestinian organizing in March 2024, before students initiated an encampment and occupied university buildings, drawing national attention and a significant police presence on campus.
He intends to enroll in a master’s program at the university this fall, according to his legal representatives. He began the citizenship process in 2024, his lawyer told CNN.
Mahdawi grew up in a refugee camp in the West Bank and has been a lawful permanent resident for ten years, as stated in a habeas corpus petition filed on his behalf. His family remains in the West Bank.
His attorneys submitted the motion in Vermont’s federal district court, requesting his release on bail pending adjudication. Vermont District Court Judge William Sessions issued a temporary restraining order preventing his removal from Vermont and the country.
Mahdawi is the second Palestinian student at Columbia with a green card to be detained by immigration authorities for removal from the country. The other is Mahmoud Khalil, a key negotiator in the pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia, who was arrested on March 8. Mahdawi and Khalil co-founded the Palestinian Student Union at Columbia in the fall of 2023.
Khalil is a permanent resident, and his wife is a US citizen. Khalil is currently held at a detention facility in Louisiana, pending litigation regarding his detention.
Mahdawi remains in Vermont, according to a statement from his lawyers, who have been able to communicate with him.
“We have confirmation he remains in Vermont from Acting US Attorney (Michael) Drescher and from the local ICE office,” Droubi told CNN. “One of his lawyers was able to speak to him. If they now choose to move him from Vermont, it will have been with full knowledge of the court’s order telling them not to.”
Other students detained in similar circumstances have been transferred to detention facilities in Louisiana and Texas before a judge could order that they remain in their original place of detention.
Such transfers underscore ICE’s authority in determining where to house detained migrants – a power that some immigration attorneys suggest the Trump administration is now utilizing to relocate disfavored migrants far from their attorneys, families, and support networks.
Columbia University declined to comment, citing privacy obligations.
Vermont’s congressional delegation, Sens. Bernie Sanders and Peter Welch and Rep. Becca Balint, issued a joint statement condemning the detention, calling it “immoral, inhumane and illegal.”
“Earlier today, 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,” they wrote. “Instead, he was arrested and removed in handcuffs by plainclothes, armed, individuals with their faces covered. … This is immoral, inhumane, and illegal. Mr. Mahdawi, a legal resident of the United States, must be afforded due process under the law and immediately released from detention.”
In its move to cancel Mahdawi’s green card, his lawyer wrote in the filing, the Trump administration appears to be citing the foreign policy rule of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, which grants the secretary of state the authority to cancel someone’s permanent residency if they are deemed to pose a threat to American foreign policy.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio last week discussed visa and green card revocations related to campus protests, stating that individuals involved in the 2024 protests contributed to fueling antisemitism across the nation.
“If they’re taking activities that are counter to our national interest, to our foreign policy, we’ll revoke the visa,” Rubio said.
Mahdawi spoke to the CBS program “60 Minutes” in December 2023 about his activism on Columbia’s campus and his experiences as a Palestinian. During the interview, Mahdawi also addressed antisemitism.
“The fight for freedom of Palestine and the fight against antisemitism go hand in hand because injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere,” Mahdawi told CBS.
On Friday, a Louisiana immigration judge ruled that Khalil is subject to removal based on the government’s determination that Khalil endangered American foreign policy. Khalil’s case is also being litigated in a district court in New Jersey, and the immigration judge’s ruling in Louisiana can be appealed, meaning Khalil’s deportation is currently on hold. His attorneys have made it clear that they plan to appeal.
Khalil and Mahdawi are among a group of students on college campuses holding student visas or green cards who have been detained by the government as part of what the Trump administration claims are efforts to combat antisemitism and pro-Palestinian protests.
