Fatma Zehra Solmaz
06 May 2025•Update: 07 May 2025
ISTANBUL
US green card holder Mohsen Mahdawi, a Columbia University student activist released last week after being detained during his interview to gain US citizenship, vowed that "intimidation" by a Trump administration crackdown would not silence his advocacy for peace and justice.
In his first television interview since his release, Mahdawi told CBS News from Vermont on Monday that US President Donald Trump “won’t silence me,” and called his release a “light of hope” for other detained student activists, including Columbia’s Mahmoud Khalil and Rumeysa Ozturk, a Turkish doctoral student at Tufts University. The current crackdown on foreign student activists – who are also covered by the US Constitution’s free speech guarantee – began after Trump took office this January.
Mahdawi was detained in mid-April under a rarely used legal provision allowing visa revocation for individuals deemed to pose “adverse foreign policy consequences.” He had arrived for his citizenship appointment, completed the test, and pledged allegiance before being taken into custody by immigration agents, he recalled.
Speaking to his supporters after his release, Mahdawi addressed Trump and his Cabinet directly, stating, “I am not afraid of you. You can do whatever you want. You will not silence me,” referring to what he called a "philosophy of intimidation, of punitive justice.
Mahdawi filed a federal lawsuit for his release hours after detention, arguing that it violated his constitutional free speech rights. US District Judge Geoffrey Crawford granted his release last Wednesday, stating Mahdawi had "made substantial claims that his detention is the result of retaliation for protected speech."
Detained for about two weeks, Mahdawi said: "What I know is this is a betrayal to the Constitution of this country and to the process."
He added: "I've done everything the right way. I've gone through the process … I've applied the right way. I showed up for my interview. I shared and answered all of the questions honestly. And, I said I am willing to defend and protect the Constitution of this country."
He called the Trump administration's reasoning "laughable," asking, "A person who has been vocally advocating for justice and peace is undermining US policy?"
A letter calling for Mahdawi's deportation, signed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, accuses him of using threatening rhetoric toward pro-Israeli bystanders at protests. However, a November 2023 video obtained by CBS News shows Mahdawi, to the contrary, leading chants against a protester who made an antisemitic comment.
He also told CBS News: "We made it very clear that our movement is about justice, and antisemitism has no place in our movement."
Mahdawi’s case remains open as Judge Crawford reviews his habeas corpus petition, a legal request challenging the lawfulness of his detention, while an appeals court will consider both his and Ozturk’s cases on Tuesday. After his release, Mahdawi said he "was reassured in my heart of the belief that justice will prevail … and the justice system is functioning."
