Mohsen Mahdawi: Palestinian student activist arrested at US citizenship interview

An organiser of pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia College has been arrested by immigration officers as he attended an interview as a part of his software for US citizenship, his lawyer says.

Mohsen Mahdawi, a inexperienced card holder who is because of graduate subsequent month from Columbia College, was detained on Monday in Colchester, Vermont.

His lawyer stated Mr Mahdawi was taken into custody “in direct retaliation” for his function in campus demonstrations in opposition to the Israel-Gaza warfare.

Others who took half in campus protests in opposition to the warfare, together with Columbia College’s Mahmoud Khalil and Tufts College’s Rumeysa Ozturk, have been detained.

The BBC has contacted US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for extra particulars on Mr Mahdawi’s case.

Video shared on social media apparently reveals him being escorted right into a automotive by two officers sporting police jackets.

His lawyer, Luna Droubi, stated: “The Trump administration detained Mohsen Mahdawi in direct retaliation for his advocacy on behalf of Palestinians and due to his identification as a Palestinian.

“His detention is an try and silence those that converse out in opposition to the atrocities in Gaza. Additionally it is unconstitutional.”

The legal professional utilized to a federal courtroom for a short lived restraining order to forestall US immigration authorities transferring Mr Mahdawi out of Vermont or expelling him from the US.

Decide William Periods, an Obama appointee, shortly granted that order.

The courtroom submitting says Mr Mahdawi was born in a refugee camp within the West Financial institution and moved to the US in 2014.

It describes the philosophy main as a dedicated Buddhist who believes in “non-violence and empathy as a central tenet of his faith”.

The whereabouts of Mr Mahdawi, who has held US everlasting resident standing since 2015, are unknown, based on Ms Droubi.

Mr Mahdawi, who co-founded Columbia’s Palestinian Student Society, has been an outspoken critic of Israel’s army operation in Gaza.

Final December, he did an interview with CBS’ 60 Minutes programme wherein he accused Israel of genocide, which it denies.

Mr Mahdawi’s detention comes amid an immigration crackdown by President Donald Trump’s administration.

Final month, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated at least 300 international college students’ visas had been revoked in an effort to deal with antisemitism on college campuses.

Critics say US officers are falsely accusing college students of anti-Jewish bigotry and violating their proper to free speech.

Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders stated on X that Mr Mahdawi “was illegally detained by ICE throughout what was alleged to be the ultimate step in his citizenship course of”.

The senator stated he “should be afforded due course of beneath the regulation and instantly launched from detention”.

Decide Periods additionally held a listening to on Monday within the case of Rumeysa Ozturk, a Turkish student at Boston’s Tufts College, who was arrested by immigration authorities final month.

He questioned whether or not the Trump administration would provoke a “constitutional disaster” by not releasing the student from custody if the courtroom have been to find out her arrest was illegal.

Decide Periods advised he may order authorities to maneuver Ms Ozturk from a Louisiana detention centre again to Vermont.

In the meantime, legal professionals for Mahmoud Khalil are at present difficult an immigration decide’s ruling on Friday permitting the federal government to deport him as a nationwide safety danger.

The Columbia College protest chief was detained final month exterior his campus lodging and transferred to a Louisiana detention centre.