Mohsen Mahdawi, a Palestinian green-card holder and student at Columbia University, was apprehended by US immigration authorities in Vermont on Monday, according to his lawyers and a video of the incident.
Mahdawi, who was a leader of the pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia last spring, was arrested by Ice on Monday morning in Colchester, Vermont, while he was attending a naturalization interview, his lawyer said in a statement to the Guardian.
“We have not received confirmation as to his whereabouts despite numerous attempts to locate him,” his attorney, Luna Droubi, said.
“We have filed a habeas petition in the District of Vermont and have sought a temporary restraining order restraining the government from removing him from the jurisdiction or from the country.”
Droubi said “the Trump administration detained Mohsen Mahdawi in direct retaliation for his advocacy on behalf of Palestinians and because of his identity as a Palestinian”, adding that “his detention is an attempt to silence those who speak out against the atrocities in Gaza. It is also unconstitutional.”
The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Guardian.
The petition, submitted by his lawyers on Monday, argues that Mahdawi’s arrest and detention violates his first amendment rights, his statutory rights and due process rights.
In the court documents, Mahdawi’s attorneys state that he is a lawful permanent resident of the US, currently on the path to naturalization, and has held a green card for the past 10 years.
They assert that this case “concerns the government’s retaliatory and targeted detention and attempted removal of Mr Mahdawi for his constitutionally protected speech”.
According to the court filing, Mahdawi was born and raised in a refugee camp in the West Bank, where he lived until he moved to the US in 2014. He became a lawful permanent resident of the US in 2015.
He is a student of Columbia University, with an expected graduation date of May 2025. Mahdawi plans to return to the school as he has been accepted into a master’s program at Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs, which will begin this fall, according to the court documents.
As a student at Columbia, his lawyers say that he was “an outspoken critic of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza and an activist and organizer in student protests on Columbia’s campus until March of 2024, after which he took a step back and has not been involved in organizing”.
On Monday morning, Mahdawi’s attorneys say he was arrested and detained by Department of Homeland Security agents, even though he is a lawful permanent resident, his lawyers wrote.
His lawyers say in the filing that it appears as though Mahdawi is facing deportation under the rarely invoked provision that the administration has recently used in other cases, such as in their efforts to deport Mahmoud Khalil.
The provision gives the secretary of state the right to remove individuals from the US if their presence is deemed to pose “potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States”.
On Monday afternoon the Vermont senators Bernie Sanders and Peter Welch, along with Vermont representative Becca Balint, issued a statement on the arrest.
“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 said. “Instead, he was arrested and removed in handcuffs by plain-clothed, 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.”
In a video being shared online of the arrest, Mahdawi is seen in handcuffs being walked out of a building and put into a car by officers.
Mahdawi was profiled by Canary Mission, an online database that publishes the names and personal information of people that it considers to be anti-Israel or antisemitic. Last month, the group included Mahdawi in a list on their website titled “Uncovering Foreign Nationals”.
