Detained Columbia pupil Mohsen Mahdawi tells CBS Information he feared citizenship interview was
Simply someday earlier than Mohsen Mahdawi was detained by immigration brokers at what he was informed was his citizenship interview, the Columbia pupil and Palestinian activist informed CBS Information he thought there was an opportunity the long-awaited appointment could possibly be a lure.
“It is the primary feeling of like, I have been ready for this for greater than a 12 months,” Mahdawi — a local of the Israeli-occupied West Financial institution who has held a inexperienced card for the final decade — informed CBS Information on the eve of his detention. “And the opposite feeling is like, wait a minute. Is that this a honey lure?”
Mahdawi was taken into custody after arriving at his interview in Vermont on Monday. CBS Information witnessed federal brokers strapping on vests shortly after he walked into the constructing, rising about an hour later with Mahdawi in handcuffs.
His attorneys say he was detained beneath a little-used legislation permitting overseas nationals to be deported in the event that they pose “severe hostile overseas coverage penalties” — making him the newest pupil to face detention, together with fellow Columbia activist and inexperienced card holder Mahmoud Khalil. Mahdawi’s authorized staff has petitioned a decide to launch him and alleged he’s being punished for protected speech, in violation of the First Modification and his proper to due course of.
Shortly after Mahdawi’s detention, federal Choose William Classes ordered the Trump administration to not deport him or transfer him out of the state of Vermont whereas Classes opinions the case, granting a request from Mahdawi’s attorneys.
The Division of Homeland Safety referred a request for remark to the State Division, which declined to remark.
Mahdawi — who says he was set to obtain his bachelor’s diploma in philosophy in Could — co-founded Columbia’s Palestinian Scholar Union in 2023 together with Khalil. Mahdawi was later lively in protests on Columbia’s campus in opposition to Israel’s warfare in Gaza, which started after Hamas’ terrorist assault launched from the Gaza Strip on Oct. 7, 2023. His attorneys stated in a court docket submitting that Mahdawi “took a step again” from organizing the protests in March 2024, earlier than the protests escalated later that spring, with demonstrators forming encampments and occupying a campus constructing.
The nationwide wave of pro-Palestinian campus protests was a political lightning rod, with critics arguing the demonstrations — and their leaders — had been disruptive and featured antisemitic rhetoric. Columbia is one in every of a number of colleges to face a freeze in federal funding by the Trump administration, which alleges the Ivy League college “failed to guard college students and college from antisemitic violence and harassment.”
Mahdawi informed CBS Information final weekend he confronted “threats” and “intimidation” after talking concerning the protests in a late 2023 “60 Minutes” interview. Shortly after President Trump took workplace, he additionally drew the eye of Betar USA, a controversial pro-Israel group that tweeted in January that Mahdawi was on its “deport listing.”
The group’s former Government Director Ross Glick informed CBS Information that Betar USA has collected data on hundreds of pro-Palestinian activists and handed it on to the Trump administration. He stated it is as much as the federal government to resolve whether or not any individual really helps Hamas: “As soon as data is handed off, we’re out of the method, proper? It is in the end as much as the federal government, the varied officers.”
Mahdawi pushed again on Betar’s criticism, saying teams like Betar “manipulate data, create lies, and fix them to the profiles of these both college students or activists.” Mahdawi has vehemently denied claims of antisemitism within the Columbia College protests extra typically, calling them a “false accusation.”
He additionally informed CBS Information over the weekend that if he is detained by federal brokers, “I would like folks to know that my compassion prolonged past the Palestinian folks. My compassion can be for the Jewish folks and for the Israelis as nicely.”
After Khalil was detained outdoors his Columbia-owned condominium final month, Mahdawi feared he could possibly be ensnared subsequent. Khalil is at the moment held in Louisiana, and his authorized future is unsure: An immigration decide dominated final week the Trump administration can transfer ahead with deportation however gave his attorneys till late April to file purposes for aid. His attorneys have indicated they are going to enchantment the ruling, and they’re individually suing the federal government for his launch.
Mahdawi informed CBS Information he started taking precautions for his personal security, together with avoiding public areas, after Khalil’s detention. Nonetheless, when he obtained phrase of a citizenship appointment, he selected to attend — although he suspected it might result in his detention.
“It is an irony. The irony of future. And I settle for the result,” Mahdawi stated a day beforehand. “If my story will develop into one other story for the battle to have justice and democracy on this nation, let it’s.”
