Columbia Student Freed by US Judge as He Fights Deportation

A Columbia University student arrested by immigration officials was released by a federal judge as he fights the Trump administration’s attempts to remove him from the country.

US District Judge Geoffrey W. Crawford on Wednesday granted bail to Mohsen Mahdawi, a Palestinian green card holder who had participated in anti-Israel protests on campus. Mahdawi, 34, was arrested at an immigration office in Vermont earlier this month after appearing for an interview as part of his citizenship application.

“To my people in Palestine: I feel your pain, I see your suffering, and I see freedom and it is very very soon,” Mahdawi told a crowd of supporters outside the Vermont courthouse after he was released, according to a statement from the American Civil Liberties Union.

Mahdawi, who was born and raised in a refugee camp in the West Bank, co-founded a Palestinian student union with another Columbia student, Mahmoud Khalil. Since his arrest in March, Khalil has become a symbol of the Trump administration’s crackdown on campus protests over Israel’s war with Hamas. 

‘Ray of Light’

“Mohsen is a ray of light in his communities, and we are so relieved that today he walked out those courtroom doors and back into the arms of his loved ones,” a lawyer for Mahdawi said in a statement. “Their claims and actions are baseless, without evidence, and are a disgrace to the U.S. Constitution.”

In addition to the deportation of students, the Trump administration is citing antisemitism on college campuses to pressure elite universities to overhaul their policies. Harvard University filed a lawsuit over the administration’s decision to freeze billions of dollars in federal funding.

Crawford concluded that despite the government’s claims Mahdawi posed a threat to the community, the evidence “does not support a finding of dangerousness.” 

“Mr. Mahdawi has raised a substantial claim that the government arrested him to stifle speech with which it disagrees,” Crawford said. “Such an act would be a violation of the Constitution.”

A spokesperson for the US Justice Department didn’t immediately respond to an email seeking comment on the ruling.

The judge also cited what he called “the extraordinary setting” of Mahdawi’s case and other recent arrests of foreign students.

“Legal residents — not charged with crimes or misconduct — are being arrested and threatened with deportation for stating their views on the political issues of the day,” Crawford said. “Our nation has seen times like this before, especially during the Red Scare.”

The judge also said he received more than 125 letters attesting to Mahdawi’s non-violent nature, including from Jewish colleagues and professors.

Khalil — who is being held in Louisiana — on Tuesday won a procedural victory when a federal judge in New Jersey rejected the government’s argument that he lacks jurisdiction to hear the student’s case. The decision means that Khalil can contest a ruling by an immigration court that allowed his deportation.

Immigration authorities attempted to fly Mahdawi to Louisiana following his arrest and detention, but were blocked by another federal judge in Vermont. The government sought to pause Mahdawi’s release for seven days, but that request was denied.

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