Who is Mohsen Mahdawi? Palestinian Columbia student leader arrested by ICE

UPDATED: Apr 15, 2025 03:37 IST

Mohsen Mahdawi, a legal permanent resident living in White River Junction and a graduate student at Columbia’s School of and Public Affairs, was detained Monday morning at a US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) office.

He had arrived expecting to complete his naturalisation interview. Instead, plainclothes agents with covered faces and guns took him away in handcuffs, without saying where he was being taken or why.

Mahdawi, a former leader of Columbia’s pro-Palestinian student movement, is one of at least nine students reportedly targeted under a new executive order signed by President Donald Trump. The order seeks to deport student organisers accused of anti-Israel activism. While most of the others are on temporary visas, Mahdawi holds a green card, raising serious legal and constitutional questions.

“This is immoral, inhumane, and illegal,” read a statement from Vermont’s Congressional delegation. "Mr. Mahdawi, a legal resident of the United States, must be afforded due process under the law and immediately released from detention.”

His legal team has filed a habeas corpus petition, arguing that his detention is retaliation for exercising free speech and political activism. According to court filings, ICE agents cited an obscure foreign policy provision allowing the Secretary of State — currently Marco Rubio — to label immigrants as threats to national interests.

“Mohsen fears that deportation to the West Bank is a death sentence,” said his lawyer. “His family members have already died in Israeli military operations. His father’s store in Jenin was destroyed.”

According to the habeas petition, Mahdawi was born and raised in a refugee camp in the West Bank until 2014, when he moved to the US. He has been a legal resident for the last 10 years and is expected to graduate from Columbia University next month.

Mahdawi had been in hiding for over three weeks following the detention of fellow organizer Mahmoud Khalil. A vocal critic of Israel’s military actions in Gaza, Mahdawi appeared in a December 2023 60 Minutes segment denouncing Columbia’s response to the war. Afterward, he was doxxed, received death threats, and was visited by the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force.

His wife and supporters say he stepped down from protest leadership in 2024 to encourage dialogue with Jewish and Israeli students.