A federal judge on Wednesday released a Palestinian Columbia University student who had been detained for his involvement in anti-Israel protests.
Immigration authorities had arrested Mohsen Mahdawi in April as part of a widespread crackdown on foreign students who participated in anti-Israel protests on college campuses.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced the initiative in February, arguing that their activism constitutes a threat to US foreign policy interests. From the Vermont Public:
“This is what justice is,” Mahdawi said after the ruling, speaking to a crowd of supporters outside the courthouse. “And for anybody who is doubting justice, this is a light of hope, a hope and faith in the justice system in America.”
The Trump administration detained Mahdawi, a green-card holder, at a citizenship appointment in Vermont earlier this month. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a letter that Mahdawi should be deported because his pro-Palestinian activism threatens foreign policy goals, including “to combat anti-Semitism around the world and in the United States" — an allegation Mahdawi and his lawyers flatly refute.
Mahdawi's lawyers say his arrest was unconstitutional, in retaliation for Mahdawi's advocacy for Palestinian human rights.
In its arguments, a lawyer representing the government said that the court did not have authority to release Mahdawi. And it said even if it did, Mahdawi posed a threat to his community — referencing a 2015 Windsor Police Department report in which a local gun shop owner described Mahdawi as suspicious and alleged he made violent comments about Jewish people.
Mahdawi’s lawyers said the allegations were untrue and called them “cartoonishly racist hearsay.” They said an FBI agent had looked into the allegations and decided to close the case.
The student gave short speech after his release. “Me standing here in front of you, me standing here with you, among you, sends a clear message … and the message is ‘we the people will hold the Constitution accountable for the principles an dvalues that we believe in,” he said.
He further said that “we send a clear message as well that if we have faith in our beliefs, unshakeable beliefs, which is the belief that justice is inevitable.”
“To President Trump and his cabinet, yes, I am not afraid of you,” he said to chants of “no fear” coming from the audience.
Mahdawi, who has US permanent residency, had been held in prison for two weeks until the judge ordered his immediate release. He co-founded the Palestinian Student Union at Columbia with Mahmoud Khalil, another Columbia student who was arrested in March and is currently being held in a Louisiana prison.
Politico reported:
Authorities have detained a co-founder of Columbia University’s Palestinian Student Union as he was completing the final steps toward gaining U.S. citizenship in what appears to be part of a widening crackdown on college activists by the Trump administration.
Mohsen Mahdawi, who had permanent U.S. residency, was taken into custody Monday in Vermont when he went to a federal office building for a naturalization appointment, according to a legal filing his attorney submitted to block his transfer to a detention facility out of state.
Mahdawi grew up in the West Bank in a refugee camp. He has lived in the United States for about ten years and possesses a green card. He was close to finalizing his US citizenship when the authorities arrested him.
He, along with other students who have been arrested, argue that the Trump administration is violating their First Amendment rights.