ISTANBUL

A Palestinian student detained earlier this month during a citizenship interview must remain in the US state of Vermont for at least 90 days as his legal team pursues his release, a federal judge ruled Wednesday, CBS News reported.

US District Judge Geoffrey Crawford said he would extend a prior restraining order that bars Mohsen Mahdawi’s deportation or transfer out of state, according to his lawyers.

The judge scheduled another hearing in Mahdawi's case for next week, with a separate immigration court hearing set for him on May 1 in Louisiana, though the status of that appearance remains unclear.

Mahdawi's lawyer, Luna Droubi, said authorities had no legal basis for his detention, stressing that it is a "disgrace to the US Constitution."

"The government has no basis, whatsoever, for Mohsen Mahdawi's detention other than their own admission that they detained Mohsen on the basis of his speech," she said in a statement.

Mahdawi is the ninth Columbia University student targeted for deportation in connection with pro-Palestinian campus activism amid a broader crackdown by the Trump administration.

The administration has invoked executive actions to expel international students accused of “hostile attitudes” toward the US, particularly those involved in protests against Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip.

Since October 2023, brutal Israeli attacks have killed more than 51,300 people in Gaza, prompting widespread demonstrations on US campuses.

Critics have accused the Trump administration of conflating criticism of Israeli actions with antisemitism to justify deportations.