A Palestinian student leader at Columbia was steps away from his final citizenship interview. He instead faces deportation

By Yash Roy, CNN

(CNN) — A Palestinian student at Columbia University went into a Vermont immigration office Monday hoping to begin the final step to becoming a US citizen. But instead of having an interview, Mohsen Mahdawi – who’s been in the United States for a decade – was taken away in handcuffs.

Immigration officials detained Mahdawi, a prominent organizer of pro-Palestinian protests on campus a year ago, at a US Citizenship and Immigration Services facility in Colchester, Vermont, where he lives, his lawyer told CNN. His detention appears to be part of a wider effort by the Trump administration to crack down on 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, wrote to CNN in a statement. “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 referred 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 started an encampment and occupied university buildings, drawing national scrutiny and a large police presence on campus.

He has plans to enroll in a master’s program at the school this fall, according to his attorneys. 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 a decade, according to 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, calling for his release on bail, pending adjudication. Vermont District Court Judge William Sessions issued a temporary restraining order preventing his removal from Vermont and from the country.

Mahdawi is the second Palestinian student at Columbia with a green card who has been detained by immigration authorities for removal from the country. The other is Mahmoud Khalil, one of the lead negotiators of the pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia, who was arrested 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 being held at a detention facility in Louisiana, pending litigation on his detention.

Mahdawi remains in Vermont, according to a statement from his lawyers, and his attorneys have been able to speak 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 situations have been transferred to detention facilities in Louisiana and Texas before a judge could order that they remain in the place they were originally detained.

Such transfers underscore ICE’s power in deciding where to house detained migrants – a power that some immigration attorneys say the Trump administration is now using to move disfavored migrants far from their attorneys, families and support systems.

Columbia University declined to comment, citing privacy obligations.

Vermont’s congressional delegation, Sens. Bernie Sanders and Peter Welch and Rep. Becca Balint, released 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 tied to protests on campus, saying people involved in the 2024 protests helped fuel 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 experience as a Palestinian. During the interview, Mahdawi also spoke about 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.

Friday, a Louisiana immigration judge ruled Khalil is subject to removal given 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 on hold. His attorneys have made clear they plan to appeal.

Khalil and Mahdawi are part of a group of students on college campuses who have student visas or green cards whom the government has detained as part of what the Trump administration claims are efforts to crack down on antisemitism and pro-Palestinian protests.

CNN’s Eric Levenson and Gloria Pazmino contributed to this report.

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