Mohsen Mahdawi, the Palestinian student at Columbia University who was arrested on April 14 at his naturalization interview in Vermont, was released on bail from federal custody on Wednesday. He is the first student to be released in the Trump administration’s widening crackdown on foreign students and academics who have been involved in Palestine advocacy while legally studying in the United States.
Mahdawi, a legal permanent resident, has lived in the US on a green card for ten years. He is now free on bail pending the result of his habeas petition.
Ruling from the bench, Judge Geoffrey W. Crawford found that Mahdawi, 34, did not pose a danger to the public and was not a flight risk. This was “not our proudest moment,” Crawford reportedly told the courtroom, comparing recent detentions of immigrants and student activists to McCarthyism.
Since the election of President Donald Trump, immigrant academics across the country have been targeted for detainment and deportation, particularly those who are Palestinian or have spoken up for Palestinian rights. The government’s various justifications for these apprehensions, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s claim that Mahdawi’s presence in the US undermines the administration’s efforts to “combat antisemitism” and “the peace process” in the Middle East have prompted widespread alarm among civil rights advocates and immigration experts who warn that the apprehensions are illegal.
Though Mahdawi’s release marks a rare victory for opponents of the Trump administration’s crackdown on protesters, students like Mahdawi’s Columbia classmate Mahmoud Khalil, Rumeysa Ozturk of Tufts University, and Badar Khan Suri of Georgetown are still being detained on similar grounds.
As Mahdawi exited the court on Wednesday, he flashed a peace sign to supporters awaiting him with Palestinian flags. “To my people in Palestine: I feel your pain, I see your suffering; and I see freedom and it is very, very soon.”
He also addressed the president directly.
“I am saying it clear and loud. To President Trump and his cabinet: I am not afraid of you.”
