In a striking incident that has ignited controversy and alarm across academic and immigrant rights circles, Columbia University student Mohsen Mahdawi was arrested by ICE agents during his U.S. citizenship interview in Vermont earlier this week. The Palestinian refugee, who has resided in the United States for over a decade as a lawful permanent resident, was taken into custody outside the USCIS Burlington Field Office while making peace signs with his hands as officers led him away in handcuffs.
Mahdawi, whose arrest was captured on video and has since circulated online, is at the center of a growing legal and political firestorm. His attorneys have filed a habeas corpus petition challenging the government’s attempt to deport him, arguing that his detention is a retaliatory act aimed at silencing his First Amendment-protected political expression. The legal filing asserts that Mahdawi, who has held a green card for ten years, is being targeted for his activism and speech rather than for any legitimate immigration violation.
Born and raised in a refugee camp in the West Bank, Mahdawi fled hardship and instability in pursuit of a safer future in the United States. He arrived in 2014 and later transferred to Columbia University after studying computer science for two years at Lehigh University in Pennsylvania. At Columbia, he has become a prominent voice for Palestinian rights, co-founding the university’s Palestinian Student Union in 2023. The organization, created with fellow student Mahmoud Khalil, aimed to celebrate Palestinian heritage and advocate for human rights in the face of increasing international scrutiny. Khalil was recently deported following a legal battle, and Mahdawi’s legal team fears he is now facing a similar fate.
Mahdawi’s habeas petition states that he stepped back from organizing campus protests in March 2024, but had been a key figure in demonstrations that criticized Israel’s military actions in Gaza. He became publicly visible in December 2023 after appearing in a segment on CBS’s 60 Minutes, where he recounted witnessing an Israeli soldier kill his best friend as a child in the West Bank. He also condemned Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack on Israel, saying he was horrified by the violence and fearful of the “huge level of revenge” Israel might unleash on Palestinians.
During that same interview, Mahdawi made headlines by forcefully rejecting antisemitism, responding to an incident during a Columbia protest where a participant shouted “death to Jews.” Mahdawi said he was shocked and immediately confronted the individual, telling him, “You don’t represent us.” He emphasized that opposing antisemitism was central to his values and to the Palestinian cause, stating, “The fight for the freedom of Palestine and the fight against anti-Semitism go hand in hand, because injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”
Now, with his graduation from Columbia University just weeks away, Mahdawi’s future remains in limbo. He is expected to receive his undergraduate degree in May 2025 and has plans to return in the fall to pursue a master’s degree in International Affairs at Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs. However, the Department of Homeland Security, under the leadership of Marco Rubio, is reportedly using the same legal mechanism to attempt his removal as was used against Khalil.
That mechanism, a Cold War-era clause of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952, allows the federal government to deport individuals whose presence is deemed to pose “potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences.” The statute was cited in Khalil’s deportation order, and Mahdawi’s legal team now fears it may be wielded in the same way to silence another vocal critic of U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East.
His attorneys argue that deporting Mahdawi would expose him to extreme danger. The petition states that, if returned to the West Bank, he would likely face harassment, imprisonment, and torture—conditions that members of his family have already endured. The lawsuit also outlines Mahdawi’s commitment to nonviolence, noting that he served for two years as president of the Columbia University Buddhist Association, where he promoted empathy and peaceful resistance as fundamental values.
As Mahdawi’s case gains national attention, it is increasingly seen as a flashpoint in the Trump administration’s aggressive crackdown on immigration and perceived dissent. Advocates warn that his arrest signals a troubling trend of using immigration enforcement to punish political activism. With the outcome of his legal challenge pending, the case may become a landmark moment in the ongoing battle over civil liberties, academic freedom, and the rights of non-citizens in the United States.
