Columbia’s Palestinian Student Walks Free: Judge Rebukes Immigration Detention in Dramatic Courtroom Twist

A Palestinian student at Columbia University, Mohsen Mahdawi, was released from U.S. immigration detention on Wednesday after a federal judge in Vermont ordered that he be released at once. Mahdawi, a legal permanent resident who spent his early years in a West Bank refugee camp, was detained for two weeks after immigration officers arrested him in the course of his U.S. citizenship interview this month.

 

Judge Geoffrey W. Crawford declared that Mahdawi was justified in challenging the Trump administration's attempt to deport him while he was out on bail, denying the government's request to postpone his release. The judge invoked Mahdawi's absence of criminal charges, his solid community roots, and the support of several scholars and professors, some of whom are Jewish, as grounds for his ruling. Crawford invoked the exceptional circumstances and likened the political environment at the time to the McCarthy era, cautioning against government actions aimed at stifling dissent.

 

Mahdawi's lawyers contended that his detention was retaliatory, as a result of his advocacy for Palestinian human rights and his involvement in pro-Palestinian demonstrations at Columbia. Outside the courthouse building, Mahdawi stated, "I am not intimidated by you," to the Trump administration, and asserted the significance of constitutional rights and free speech.

 

As Mahdawi's liberty is being hailed as a triumph for civil rights and freedom of protest, his fight is only half won. He has to stay in Vermont but is free to travel to New York City to continue his education and legal sessions as he continues to fight the deportation proceedings. The Department of Homeland Security is keeping quiet on the matter. This case is part of a string of measures by the Trump administration against pro-Palestinian foreign students that has been condemned by civil rights activists as a First Amendment violation.

 

Source: CBS News