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Mohsen Mahdawi, a student at Columbia University, Palestinian and permanent U.S. resident, was detained by immigration authorities and taken into custody during his interview for naturalization in Vermont, multiple outlets reported—marking the second Columbia student to be targeted by the Trump administration.
Key Facts
Mahdawi—who attended Columbia and plans to get his master’s degree there in the fall—was born in a refugee camp in the West Bank, is a permanent resident of the U.S. and has had a green card for 10 years, according to a legal filing challenging his detention.
The legal challenge “concerns the government’s retaliatory and targeted detention and attempted removal of Mr. Mahdawi for his constitutionally protected speech,” and notes he was “was an outspoken critic of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza and an activist and organizer in student protests on Columbia’s campus” until March, when he stopped organizing.
Luna Droubi, Mahdawi’s lawyer, told Forbes they hadn’t received an explanation for his detention as of around 7 p.m. EDT on Monday, though in their challenge his legal team wrote it appears the government is trying to remove him from the U.S. using the same Cold War-era provision it used to justify the detainment of another Columbia student.
His lawyers argue detaining Mahdawi and other actions from the respondents—who are named as President Donald Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and more—“plainly violate the First Amendment, which protects [his] right to speak on matters of public concern and prevents the government from chilling constitutionally-protected speech.”
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Chief Critics
Sens. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Peter Welch, D-Vt., and Rep. Becca Balint, D-Vt., released a joint statement on Mahdwai’s detainment, saying it was “immoral, inhumane, and illegal.” They said Mahdawi, “a legal resident of the United States, must be afforded due process under the law and immediately released from detention.”
Key Background
The Trump administration has been targeting international students since March, when Columbia student Mahmoud Khalil was first detained. Rubio said in March the administration had revoked about 300 visas from students, many of whom were involved in pro-Palestinian activity, across at least 80 universities, the BBC reported. Trump’s press secretary Karoline Leavitt defended Rubio’s revocation of student visas, saying, “the Secretary of State has the right to revoke a green card or a visa for individuals who … are adversarial to the foreign policy and national security interests of the United States of America.” Weeks after Khalil’s detainment, Rumeysa Ozturk—a Turkish graduate student at Tufts University—was taken into custody by federal agents because she “engaged in activities in support of Hamas.”
Tangent
On Friday, a judge ruled the Trump Administration can deport Khalil and it gave a deadline of April 23 for his attorneys to appeal. Khalil is a permanent U.S. resident and was a student at Columbia who led pro-Palestinian protests. Trump said Khalil was “a Radical Foreign Pro-Hamas Student” and his detainment is “the first arrest of many to come,” and his administration has said Khalil’s arrest is justified under a provision of the Cold War-era Immigration and Naturalization Act of 1952. Khalil has not been charged with a crime, and his attorneys have said he was legally speaking in support of Palestinian rights. Mahdawi knew Khalil, according to ABC News and The Intercept, which first reported Mahdawi’s detainment.
Further Reading
Can Marco Rubio Revoke Mahmoud Khalil’s Green Card? What To Know About Little-Known Law Used To Justify Protester’s Arrest. (Forbes)
What We Know About Rumeysa Ozturk—Rubio Says Tufts Student Detained By ICE Had Visa Revoked (Forbes)
