NEW YORK (1010 WINS) — A permanent United States resident and Columbia University student was arrested by Department of Homeland Security agents at his naturalization interview on Monday, according to a habeas petition and his legal team.
Mohsen Mahdawi of White River Junction, Vermont, “walked into an immigration office for what was supposed to be the final step in his citizenship process” but was instead arrested, Sen. Bernie Sanders, Sen. Peter Welch and Rep. Becca Balint said in a statement denouncing his arrest.
According to the statement, the Immigration Enforcement and Customs agents were in plainclothes, armed, had their faces covered and refused to provide information as to where he was being taken or what was happening.
“This was a ruse. It was actually a trap,” one of Mahdawi’s attorneys Cyrus Mehta told 1010 WINS. “He was scheduled for a naturalization interview. The interview had concluded and at the end of the interview, ICE was there waiting for him to detain him.”
Mahdawi was born and raised in a refugee camp in the West Bank before moving to the United States in 2014, the habeas petition obtained by 1010 WINS states. He has been a legal resident for the past decade and is expected to graduate from Columbia next month before pursuing a Master’s degree at the university.
The petition said that Mahdawi was an “outspoken critic of Israel's military campaign in Gaza and an activist and organizer in student protests on Columbia’s campus until March of 2024, after which he took a step back and has not been involved in organizing.”
“The Trump administration detained Mohsen Mahdawi in direct retaliation for his advocacy on behalf of Palestinians and because of his identity as a Palestinian,” Luna Droubi, another of Mahdawi’s lawyers, said in a statement. She referred to his detention as “unconstitutional.”
Mehta agreed with Droubi’s assessment, calling the arrest “unlawful because it is based purely on his free speech.” He confirmed to 1010 WINS that Mahdawi is being held in a detention center in Vermont and that his team has been able to obtain a temporary restraining order.
“There is no reason to detain him because he is not a flight risk, and he’s willing to appear for his deportation hearings,” Mehta said. “There is no legal basis to detain him. Most people who are put into deportation proceedings are allowed to appear in court on their own recognizance.”
Columbia refused 1010 WINS’ request for comment on the basis of their Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) obligations.
“This is immoral, inhumane, and illegal. Mr. Mahdawi, a legal resident of the United States, must be afforded due process under the law and immediately released from detention,” the Vermont elected officials added in their statement.
Mahdawi co-founded the Palestinian Student Union at Columbia alongside Mahmoud Khalil, another permanent U.S. resident recently detained by ICE.
Khalil was the first person arrested as part of the Trump administration’s promised crackdown on students who protested against the war in Gaza. An immigration judge in Louisiana ruled on Friday that Khalil can be deported as a national security risk.
According to Mehta, the argument in Mahdawi’s case is the same.
"Basically this deportation ground is premised on the fact that a non-citizen's presence in the United States would be contrary to the foreign policy interests," he explained.
Mehta said that the legal team is hoping to secure Mahdawi’s release, but that he predicts ICE will initiate removal proceedings.