Mohsen Mahdawi showing peace symbol after being arrested by ICE.
After Mahmoud Khalil,
Mohsen Mahdawi
became the second Palestinian student at Columbia with a green card who was arrested by ICE for their deportation. Mahdawi and Khalil co-founded the Palestinian Student Union at Columbia in 2023 fall. Mahdawi’s arrest is one of the most dramatic one so far pulled off by ICE as he was arrested from a Vermont immigration office where he came to give an interview for finalizing his US citizenship.
Instead, he was arrested, making the citizenship interview look like a trap that Mahdawi walked into on his own. There were armed, plainclothes police with their faces covered who handcuffed Mahdawi.
“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,” Vermont’s congressional delegation, Senators Bernie Sanders and Peter Welch and Rep. Becca Balint, said in their joint statement.
Born in a refugee camp in the West Bank, Mahdawi has been living in the US for a decade legally. His family remains in the West Bank. He began his citizenship process in 2024 and the interview from where he was arrested was his last step to gain US citizenship. Mahdawi has plans to enroll in a master’s program this fall.
‘Threat to American foreign policy’
In defense for their action, the Trump administration cited the foreign policy rule of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 that grants the Secretary of State the authority to cancel someone’s permanent residency if they are deemed to pose a threat to American foreign policy.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio asserted that even permanent citizens can be removed. “Visiting America is not an entitlement. It is a privilege extended to those who respect our laws and values. And, as Secretary of State, I will never forget that,” Rubio wrote in an opion piece on Fox News.
“US visa holders should know in no uncertain terms that the US government’s rigorous security vetting does not end once a visa is granted,” he added.
