Irina Park
On April 14, Mohsen Mahdawi, a Palestinian student and activist at Columbia University, was arrested by plain-clothed and armed US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) at the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Office in Colchester, Vermont. The Trump administration appears to have utilized a naturalization interview as a trap to arrest Mahdawi, scheduling the citizenship test at the USCIS office and arresting him upon his arrival. The process to deport Mahdawi to the occupied West Bank where he is from has begun, where currently Israeli forces are escalating their genocide against Palestinians and violently clearing out refugee camps.
Mahdawi is a permanent US resident who has lived in the US for 10 years. He was a leading figure in Columbia University’s student protests against Israel’s escalated genocide in Gaza in 2023 and worked tirelessly to bring together a coalition of students in solidarity with Palestine. According to students who organized with him, he stepped back in 2024 following a baseless rumor campaign spread against him by individuals connected to the Politically Degenerate Right Liquidationists (PDRL). Rumors spread by these individuals included fabricated information regarding his green card status to suggest that he was living in the US illegally.
After his friend and colleague Mahmoud Khalil was abducted last month, Mahdawi was repeatedly targeted and doxxed by Zionist groups, leading him to shelter in place for three weeks to avoid arrest. In early April, Mahdawi received an email from USCIS regarding a scheduled interview as part of the naturalization process. Mahdawi, concerned this was a trap, contacted his lawyers and politicians in Congress, including Bernie Sanders and Peter Welch, asking them to intervene. Offices of Sanders and Welch, politicians who both support Israel, limited their response to denouncing his detention and calling for his immediate release. District Judge William Sessions ordered that Mahdawi not be moved from the state of Vermont or the US.
Mahdawi’s lawyers filed a habeas corpus petition challenging the legality of the arrest as a violation of due process by punishing him for his speech related to Palestine and Israel. Mahdawi is facing deportation under the provision used by Secretary of State Marco Rubio to “personally determine” if a person can be deported for activities that compromise foreign policy interests. Despite numerous attempts to locate Mohsen Mahdawi, his attorneys have not received confirmation of his whereabouts.
A rally was held in New York City the following day with protesters demanding his release, among other abducted students. This is a developing story and one of many recent cases of state repression and the targeting of students, activists, and immigrants protesting genocide.
Photo: Mohsen Mahdawi on 60 Minutes.
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