Mohsen Mahdawi speaks at a protest on the Columbia College campus on November 9, 2023 in New York Metropolis.
Mukta Joshi | Getty Pictures
Columbia College scholar Mohsen Mahdawi is free on bail after a decide ordered his launch from federal immigration custody on Wednesday, weeks after armed DHS brokers detained him in Vermont throughout his naturalization interview.
Mahdawi, a 34-year-old U.S. everlasting resident who was born and raised in a refugee camp within the West Financial institution, was detained April 14 and had been held at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility, the Northwest State Correctional Facility, in St. Albans, Vermont.
“I’m saying it clear and loud to President Trump and his Cupboard: I’m not afraid of you,” Mahdawi mentioned Wednesday outdoors the Vermont courthouse after his launch.
“What we’re witnessing now and what we’re understanding is precisely what Dr. Martin Luther King has mentioned earlier than: Injustice anyplace is a menace to justice in every single place,” he added.
From the bench, Choose Geoffrey W. Crawford ordered the discharge of Mahdawi from jail on bail, pending the decision of his habeas petition.
The federal government requested that Choose Crawford pause Mahdawi’s launch from jail for seven days by issuing a keep of the order, however the decide denied it.
The Justice Division and the Division of Homeland Safety didn’t instantly return requests for remark.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio justified Mahdawi’s detention, saying his “presence and actions in the US would have critical antagonistic international coverage penalties and would compromise a compelling U.S. international coverage curiosity,” in keeping with the DHS discover for Mahdawi to look.
Mahdawi, who has a inexperienced card, was a key organizer of pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia final 12 months.
Earlier than Wednesday morning’s listening to in Vermont, the federal government and Mahdawi’s attorneys filed a number of court docket paperwork over his launch, a lot of which have been filed beneath seal however reviewed by NBC Information.
Within the authorities’s opposition to releasing Mahdawi, it mentioned that legislation enforcement information indicated that Mahdawi has admitted “to being concerned in and supporting antisemitic acts of violence” and “an curiosity in and facility with firearms for that goal,” in keeping with court docket paperwork reviewed by NBC Information.
The federal government included two displays with their submitting, which have been filed beneath seal. One of many displays, which NBC Information has reviewed, is a 2015 report from the Windsor Police Division in Vermont, the place a gun store proprietor informed officers that Mahdawi “supposedly informed” the proprietor that he used to construct machine weapons “to kill Jews whereas he was in Palestine.”
In his declaration, Mahdawi mentioned that he recalled visiting a gun store in Windsor, Vermont, however that he’s “completely sure that I by no means expressed the phrases the report falsely attributes to me, in that trade or ever.”
“I’m a peaceable particular person, and would by no means specific desirous to hurt or kill anybody,” he wrote. “I’m heartbroken to have such appalling phrases, which stand in full distinction to my philosophy on life and religious beliefs, misattributed to me.”
Addressing reporters outdoors the courthouse, Mahdawi’s attorneys claimed victory in opposition to what they described as “the federal government’s retaliation” in opposition to Mahdawi’s proper to free speech.
“Their claims and actions are baseless, with out proof, and are a shame to the U.S. Structure,” mentioned Luna Droubi, companion of Beldock Levine & Hoffman LLP. “We are going to hold combating till Mohsen is free for good.”
Demonstrators maintain placards that learn “Free Mohsen” in reference to Mohsen Mahdawi, a Palestinian inexperienced card holder and scholar at Columbia College that was detained, as they collect at Foley Sq. calling for the discharge of Palestinian activist and Columbia College graduate scholar Mahmoud Khalil, in Manhattan, New York Metropolis, U.S., April 15, 2025.
Jeenah Moon | Reuters
Mahdawi grew up in al-Fara, a Palestinian refugee camp within the West Financial institution, the place a lot of his household stays, in keeping with a court docket submitting. When he was 15 years outdated, he was shot within the leg by an Israeli soldier, the doc states. He got here to the U.S. greater than a decade in the past earlier than enrolling at Columbia in 2021, in keeping with the submitting.
The Trump administration has used related justification to apprehend different international college students, most of whom are from international locations within the Center East, who have been lively within the pro-Palestinian protests in school campuses final 12 months or who’ve been vital of Israel.
On March 8, immigration authorities detained Columbia graduate scholar Mahmoud Khalil, who helped lead scholar protests in opposition to the battle in Gaza on the faculty final 12 months, at his New York house. A decide dominated on April 11 that the Trump administration can deport Khalil, however Khalil has been permitted to combat the ruling whereas in detention within the U.S.
DHS brokers equally apprehended Tufts College scholar Rümeysa Öztürk, who beforehand co-wrote an essay about Israel and the battle in Gaza, off a Boston suburban road in March.
Exterior the courthouse on Wednesday, Mahdawi referred to as for his or her freedom.
“Needless to say, sure, you would possibly assume I’m free, however my freedom is interlinked to the liberty of many different college students, together with Rümeysa Öztürk and Mahmoud Khalil,” he mentioned.”
Mahdawi additionally referred to as for an finish to the battle in Gaza and the U.S. help to Israel.
“We should get up for humanity as a result of the remainder of the world, not solely Palestine, is watching us,” Mahdawi mentioned. “And what will occur in America goes to have an effect on the remainder of the world.”