Rabia Iclal Turan
14 April 2025•Update: 14 April 2025
WASHINGTON
A Palestinian student at Columbia University was detained by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on Monday while attempting to complete a citizenship interview in Vermont, according to a report.
Mohsen K. Mahdawi, a legal permanent resident and former leader of the campus protest movement, was taken into custody at the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) office in Colchester, Vermont, the Intercept reported.
“He came to this country hoping to be free to speak out about the atrocities he has witnessed, only to be punished for such speech,” attorney Luna Droubi told The Intercept, describing his detention as unlawful and rooted in his Palestinian identity.
His lawyers filed a habeas corpus petition, alleging the US government was violating his due process rights by targeting him for his political views.
The filing suggested that he could be deported under a rarely used provision, the Cold War-era Immigration and Nationality Act, which allows immigrants to be deemed threats to American foreign policy and has been used by Secretary of State Marco Rubio in other recent cases, including against Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil.
Mahdawi believes that deportation would endanger his life, citing the deaths of family members and the destruction of their homes in the occupied West Bank. “It’s kind of a death sentence,” he was quoted by the Intercept as saying.
Mahdawi, who has advocated for peaceful dialogue between Jewish and Palestinian students, had scaled back his activism in 2024. Despite this, he became the subject of intense scrutiny by pro-Israel groups such as the Canary Mission and Betar, which have compiled public dossiers accusing him and others of antisemitism.
Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders slammed the detention of Mahdawi, saying he "must be afforded due process under the law and immediately released from detention."
He added that the individuals who detained him "refused to provide any information as to where he was being taken or what would happen to him. This is immoral, inhumane, and illegal."
He is now the ninth Columbia student facing deportation as part of a larger campaign to remove international students involved in Palestinian solidarity movements.
The effort came amid a slew of executive actions by President Donald Trump aimed at deporting foreign nationals deemed to have "hostile attitudes" toward the US, including a crackdown on what he called antisemitism, which resulted in the deportation of foreign students who participated in pro-Palestinian campus protests.
A US immigration judge ruled on Friday that Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia University pro-Palestinian activist and legal permanent resident who was arrested by ICE officers on March 8 at his campus housing in New York City, can be deported under a rarely used federal law citing foreign policy concerns.
