A federal judge on Wednesday ordered the release of Mohsen Mahdawi, a Columbia University student from the West Bank, after Mahdawi spent more than two weeks in immigration detention following his abrupt arrest during a naturalization interview.
The 34-year-old permanent U.S. resident was detained by armed Department of Homeland Security agents on April 14 while seeking U.S. citizenship in Vermont. Mahdawi has been held since then at the Northwest State Correctional Facility in St. Albans, and his case has drawn national attention over the Trump administration’s targeting of pro-Palestinian student activists.
“The two weeks of detention so far demonstrate great harm to a person who has been charged with no crime,” said U.S. District Judge Geoffrey Crawford, an appointee of former President Barack Obama, according to ABC News. “Mr. Mahdawi, I will order you released.”
Crawford’s order allows Mahdawi to be released on bail, pending the final outcome of his case in federal court.
The government cited national security concerns in seeking to keep him in custody. In a statement to the Washington Examiner, DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin vowed that the administration is “committed to restoring the rule of law to our immigration system.”
“No judge, not this one or any other, is going to stop us from doing that,” McLaughlin said.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio justified the arrest in a DHS notice, stating Mahdawi’s “presence and activities” in the United States would pose “serious adverse foreign policy consequences.”
Prosecutors also alleged Mahdawi had expressed support for antisemitic violence and had “an interest in and facility with firearms for that purpose,” according to sealed government filings seen by NBC.
Originally from the al Fara’a refugee camp in the West Bank, Mahdawi immigrated to the U.S. more than a decade ago and began studying at Columbia in 2021.
“I am saying it clear and loud to President Trump and his Cabinet: I am not afraid of you,” Mahdawi said outside the courtroom after his release, according to NBC News.
The Trump administration has stepped up immigration enforcement actions against Middle Eastern students tied to pro-Palestinian demonstrations. Mahdawi is the second Columbia student in recent weeks to face detention.
Mahmoud Khalil, a graduate student who led protests against the war in Gaza, was arrested at his New York apartment on March 8. A judge ruled on April 11 that Khalil can be deported, though he remains in custody while appealing the decision.
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The Trump administration contends it is a privilege to be granted a visa or green card to study in the country and that aligning with groups such as Hamas, the foreign terrorist organization that launched a deadly assault on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, should forfeit that privilege.
“When you advocate for violence, glorify and support terrorists that relish the killing of Americans, and harass Jews, that privilege should be revoked, and you should not be in this country,” McLaughlin said.
