Palestinian Columbia Student Mohsen Mahdawi Freed After Judge Slams Trump-Era Tactics
Wearing a keffiyeh, Mahdawi stood defiant. “I say it loud and clear to President Trump and his Cabinet: I am not afraid of you.”
Vermont (Quds News Network)- U.S. authorities released Palestinian student and activist Mohsen Mahdawi from federal custody on Wednesday after a federal judge ordered his release, condemning what he called politically motivated detention tactics.
Mahdawi, a permanent U.S. resident and Columbia University student, was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) two weeks ago when he arrived at a citizenship interview in Vermont. He had feared the interview was a “setup” — a suspicion he voiced publicly to CBS the day before his arrest.
Judge Geoffrey Crawford ruled that Mahdawi posed no flight risk. He compared Mahdawi’s arrest to the McCarthy-era suppression of left-wing voices in America.
“Our nation has seen times like this before,” Crawford wrote, referencing the Palmer Raids and Red Scare of the early 20th century. “The wheel of history has come around again.”
The judge released Mahdawi on bail. He is allowed to return to New York to attend classes and meet his lawyers but must otherwise remain in Vermont while his case continues.
Speaking outside the courthouse, Mahdawi thanked supporters and delivered a powerful message. “We are pro-peace and anti-war,” he said. “To my people in Palestine: I feel your pain, I see your suffering; and I see freedom—and it is very, very soon.”
Wearing a keffiyeh, he stood defiant. “I say it loud and clear to President Trump and his Cabinet: I am not afraid of you.”
The 26-year-old activist was born in a refugee camp in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. He moved to the U.S. in 2014 and gained a green card in 2015. At Columbia University, he co-founded the Palestinian Student Union and led campus protests against Israeli assaults.
His legal team argued that his arrest was politically driven. Attorney Luna Droubi said it was “in direct retaliation for his advocacy on behalf of Palestinians and because of his identity as a Palestinian.”
According to internal government memos, Secretary of State Marco Rubio ordered Mahdawi’s detention, claiming he threatened U.S. foreign policy and efforts to combat antisemitism. No evidence has been made public to support those claims.
Rubio’s memo accused Mahdawi of promoting antisemitic violence — an allegation based on a Vermont gun shop owner’s unverified report. Mahdawi firmly denied the accusation.
“I am a peaceful person and would never express wanting to harm anyone,” he said in a court declaration. “It breaks my heart to see such appalling words misattributed to me.”
Human rights groups have rallied behind Mahdawi, seeing his arrest as part of a broader campaign to silence Palestinian voices in the U.S. amid Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza.
In a recent interview with NPR, Mahdawi linked his experience to the wider Palestinian struggle. “The injustice I face here is connected to the injustice Palestinians face back home. We are moved by the killing of over 55,000 people, by the suffering of children and families.”
