Mohsen Mahdawi, an activist and U.S. green card holder, was arrested by ICE during a citizenship interview that he suspected was a setup. His lawyer claims the detention targets his advocacy for Palestinian rights, while protests erupt in support of Mahdawi and other detained activists.
Palestinian Activist Detained by ICE During Citizenship Interview: Fears of a Setup
Palestinian Activist Detained by ICE During Citizenship Interview: Fears of a Setup
Mohsen Mahdawi, a Columbia University student and Palestinian activist, expresses concerns that his U.S. citizenship interview was a trap, leading to his detention by immigration authorities.
Detained activist Mohsen Mahdawi, a Palestinian student at Columbia University, was apprehended by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) during a citizenship interview he believed might be a trap. The 23-year-old had been a vocal advocate for Palestinian rights and had expressed concerns leading up to the appointment. "It feels as if I have been waiting for this moment for more than a year," he stated one day before his detention.
His lawyer, Luna Droubi, asserts that the arrest is a direct response to Mahdawi’s activism and identity as a Palestinian, characterizing the detention as unconstitutional and an attempt to suppress dissent regarding the ongoing situation in Gaza. Mahdawi, who emigrated from a refugee camp in the West Bank in 2014, had co-founded the Palestinian Student Union at Columbia and participated in campus protests in response to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
As protests erupted in New York supporting Mahdawi and other activists, a federal judge issued an order to prevent his removal from Vermont, even as fellow activists, such as Mahmoud Khalil and Rumeysa Ozturk, faced detention in Louisiana.
The controversy surrounding Mahdawi's arrest is compounded by statements from U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio indicating that over 300 international student visas had been revoked in an effort to combat antisemitism at universities, an assertion directly denied by the involved activists.
"What I want people to understand is that my compassion extends not just to Palestinians, but also for the Jewish community and Israelis as well," he laid out in a recent interview. The fallout from this incident signals ongoing tensions and disputes over freedom of speech and advocacy in the wake of escalating violence in the Middle East.
