Freshly released from detention and wearing a keffiyeh in apparent support of his native Palestine, Columbia University student Mohsen Mahdawi immediately resumed his activism after posting bond at the federal courthouse in Burlington, Vermont.
“Where we go from this? We have to mobilize. We have to organize. We have to invest in peace and center compassion and empathy, and we have to divest from war and hate,” said Mahdawi, greeted by cheers from supporters Wednesday.
Mahdawi is among the first non-US citizen student activists detained by the Trump administration in recent months to be released from immigration detention by court order.
Attorneys for the Palestinian man called his two-week detention “unconstitutional” and “retaliatory,” adding that he was unfairly targeted by the Trump administration after advocating for Palestinian human rights at Columbia University, where he is a student.
Mahdawi was detained by Homeland Security Investigations agents on April 14, according to court documents, while attending a naturalization appointment with US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).
He was born and raised in a refugee camp in the Israeli-occupied West Bank but moved to the United States in 2014, where he has been a lawful permanent resident.
During that USCIS appointment, according to his attorneys, Mahdawi passed his naturalization test and subsequently was administered the oath to become a US citizen, only to be detained by Homeland Security Investigations agents on site.
“The agents technically premeditated my abduction, or kidnapping,” Mahdawi said while speaking outside the courthouse.
Mahdawi was handed a notice by HSI agents stating he was removable because the government determined his presence and activities “would have serious adverse foreign policy consequences and would compromise a compelling U.S. foreign policy interest,” according to court documents.
Mahdawi was nearly transferred out of Vermont to Louisiana, where he would have been held in an ICE processing center.
“We just missed the airplane, which was a commercial airplane, by nine minutes,” Mahdawi said Wednesday. “This is one reason why I stayed in Vermont. The other reason, of course, the very quick and swift, intelligent work that my legal team has done.”
Luna Droubi, one of Mahdawi’s attorneys, said in a statement that they would keep fighting until Mohsen is free for good.
“Mohsen is a ray of light in his communities, and we are so relieved that today he walked out those courtroom doors and back into the arms of his loved ones,” Droubi said.
As part of Mahdawi’s bond conditions, he must reside in Vermont, is allowed to travel to New York for his education or meetings with attorneys, and is required to attend all court-ordered hearings.
The order signed by Judge Geoffrey W. Crawford on Wednesday offers new insight into the government’s possible attempt to justify removing Mahdawi from the country. It refers to an incident in 2015 allegedly involving Mahdawi that resulted in “no charges…or other unfavorable action” against him.
According to court filings, a gun shop owner in Windsor, Vermont, contacted police that summer, claiming Mahdawi visited his store expressing interest in “buying a sniper rifle and an automatic weapon.”
The gun shop owner referred authorities to another gun enthusiast who is not named in court filings but claimed Mahdawi expressed violence against Jewish people.
The FBI later met with Mahdawi and subsequently found no evidence supporting earlier claims, and the agent was “satisfied with his explanation and closed the investigation,” according to court filings.
“I can’t wait to talk to him and to continue the really important work that we’ve been doing,” said Michael Baratz, a Columbia graduate and friend of Mahdawi.
“I’m an Israeli citizen, he’s a Palestinian. We’ve been working in a peacebuilding project. He’s active in building partnerships and trying to bridge gaps. He really believes in this project,” added Baratz, who told CNN that he reached back out to his friend after his release to express his support.
“In the United States of America, we don’t detain or expel people for political speech. Our democracy must be stronger than one that cannot withstand disagreement that hurts or offends our ears,” Baratz said. “To me, the notion that Mohsen, or any activist, would have to worry about their status in the country because of a stance they took, is heinous, wrong, and illegal.”
Mahdawi has remained an outspoken critic of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza and organized Columbia campus protests until March 2024. He co-founded the Palestinian Student Union at the university with Mahmoud Khalil, another Palestinian permanent resident of the U.S. and graduate student who was detained by immigration authorities.
Separately, the Trump administration has been scrutinized in court for indiscriminately canceling immigration records for thousands of international students, affecting their enrollment at US colleges and universities.
“You might think I’m free,” said Mahdawi as he stepped out of detention Wednesday, “but my freedom is interlinked to the freedom of many other students.”
