A Palestinian man expecting an interview Monday to become a U.S. citizen was instead arrested at a Vermont Immigration and Customs Enforcement office, according to online videos and court documents.
Mohsen Mahdawi, a Columbia University student and legal resident who has held a green card since 2015, was scheduled to appear at an ICE field center at around 11 a.m. but instead was handcuffed and escorted out by ICE officials and placed in a vehicle to be detained at an undisclosed location, his lawyers said.
Mahdawi was a prominent activist in the protests at Columbia over the war in Gaza alongside Mahmoud Khalil, who the Trump administration detained in March. An immigration judge on Friday ruled that Khalil can be deported as a national security risk.
Lawyers immediately filed a writ of habeas corpus and petitioned for a temporary restraining order, noting that his detention was in retaliation for his advocacy.
The Trump administration detained Mohsen Mahdawi in direct retaliation for his advocacy on behalf of Palestinians and because of his identity as a Palestinian. His detention is an attempt to silence those who speak out against the atrocities in Gaza. It is also unconstitutional,” attorney Luna Droubi said in an email to The Associated Press.
A district judge in Vermont temporarily ordered Mahdawi not to be deported.
“It is ordered that the petitioner, Mohsen Madawi, not be removed from the United States or moved out of the territory of the District of Vermont pending further order of this court,” the judge wrote.
In a joint statement, Vermont’s congressional delegation called the action “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,” the full statement read. “Instead, he was arrested and removed in handcuffs by plainclothes, armed, individuals with their faces covered. These individuals refused to provide any information as to where he was being taken or what would happen to him. 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.”
According to the court filing, Mahdawi was born in a refugee camp in the West Bank and moved to the United States in 2014. He recently completed coursework at Columbia and was expected to graduate in May before beginning a master’s degree program there in the fall.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio has been open about the U.S. revoking visas of people they see as Hamas supporters.
“We will be revoking the visas and/or green cards of Hamas supporters in America so they can be deported,” Rubio wrote on X after Khalil’s arrest.
More than 300 foreign students have now had their student visas revoked, with new reports detailing plans by the State Department to use artificial intelligence (AI) to revoke visas of any foreign students who appear “pro-Hamas.”
At least 60 colleges were put on notice of antisemitism investigations, with threats to pull funding, as it already did at Columbia University, which has since agreed to make major changes after the White House pulled $400 million in funding.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) also announced on April 9 that its immigration screening process will be adding a new filter to scan social media accounts for antisemitic content.
DHS stated that the focus will be on individuals who support antisemitic terrorism, specifically mentioning groups such as Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah, and the Houthis.
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Editor’s note:The Associated Press contributed to this article.
