Another Columbia University student was held by immigration authorities in “direct retaliation” for his participation in anti-Israeli Gaza rallies, according to his lawyer.
Mohsen Mahdawi, who was born and raised in a refugee camp in the West Bank and is a permanent resident of the United States, was detained by the Department of Homeland Security during a naturalization interview in Vermont on Monday, according to his lawyer, Luna Droubi.
Mahdawi was detained as part of a wider and extraordinary crackdown on foreign students. A Vermont senator tweeted video of three cops, two of whom were masked, carrying Mahdawi in handcuffs to an SUV.
Another of his attorneys, Andrew Delaney, confirmed that Mahdawi is being held in Vermont. According to a petition appealing his arrest, he appeared to have been brought into jail for deportation.
On Monday, a federal judge temporarily delayed his removal.
In a joint statement, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Rep. Becca Balint, D-Vt., condemned Mahdawi’s incarceration as “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,” they told me. “Instead, he was arrested and taken away in handcuffs by plainclothes, armed guys with their faces masked. These individuals refused to tell him where he was being brought or what would happen to him.
“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 statement.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement did not immediately reply to a request for comment. The Department of Homeland Security directed NBC News to the State Department, which did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
A spokeswoman for Columbia declined to comment, citing federal privacy laws.
Mahdawi was jailed days after an immigration judge in Louisiana determined that Columbia student and green card holder Mahmoud Khalil might be deported, despite the fact that a federal judge in New Jersey has blocked his deportation while he contests his detention in that state.
Federal investigators have accused Khalil, who led student protests at Columbia, of aiding terrorists and harassing individuals because of their beliefs. The White House and federal officials have highlighted a seldom-used clause in immigration law that permits them to “remove aliens who pose serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States.”
Rumeysa Öztürk, a Tufts University student, was detained by plainclothes agents after writing an opinion piece in her school newspaper condemning the school’s attitude to the conflict in Gaza, as reported by her lawyers.
Last month, federal officials said that hundreds of student visas had been revoked as part of an unprecedented crackdown. According to an NBC News study, the students, many of whom are Middle Eastern, come from at least 29 different states.
According to a temporary restraining order obtained by Droubi on Monday, Mahdawi migrated to the United States in 2014. The filing portrays him as a vocal critic of Israel’s military operations who helped organize rallies at Columbia University until March 2024, when he resigned.
Mahdawi recently attended Columbia and plans to return in the autumn for a master’s degree, according to the filing.