Immigration brokers nabbed an anti-Israel Columbia College protester whereas he was at an appointment to acquire his US citizenship in Vermont Monday.
Palestinian scholar Mohsen Madawi, who hails from the West Financial institution, was detained at a US Citizenship and Immigration Companies (USCIS) workplace in Burlington after spending 10 years within the US and acquiring his inexperienced card, in keeping with the Intercept.
It now seems, nonetheless, that the Trump administration is searching for to chop Madawi’s time brief within the US after he helped lead anti-Israel protests on Columbia’s Morningside Heights campus till final spring.
Video footage posted on X Monday appeared to point out Mahdawi being escorted along with his arms shackled in entrance of him and surrounded by federal brokers, who positioned him into an unmarked car.
“It’s sort of a dying sentence,” Mahdawi, who beforehand led Columbia’s Palestinian scholar union, stated, in keeping with the Intercept.
“As a result of my persons are being killed unjustly in an indiscriminate manner.”
Mahdawi “was unlawfully detained at the moment for no purpose apart from his Palestinian identification,” his legal professional, Luna Droubi, instructed the outlet.
“He got here to this nation hoping to be free to talk out in regards to the atrocities he has witnessed, solely to be punished for such speech,” she added.
Columbia declined to remark, citing its Household Academic Rights and Privateness Act (FERPA) obligations.
Neither DHS nor the State Division responded to requests for remark.
Mahdawi, who was buddies with detained anti-Israel Columbia protester Mahmoud Khalil, anticipated changing into a goal of the Trump administration’s mass deportation effort and went into hiding, asking the college for assist discovering shelter, in keeping with the Intercept.
However Columbia didn’t reply to his request, he stated.
Whereas Mahdawi was holed up, USCIS notified him that they’d moved his citizenship interview, which he anticipated would happen in January or December, and he grew to become involved it was a part of a setup.
Mahdawi was nabbed as he confirmed up to the appointment this week, the Intercept reported.
The FBI additionally visited Mahdawi late final 12 months, however didn’t take any motion towards him.
“That is the end result,” Mahdawi stated, in keeping with the outlet. “I might be both residing or imprisoned or killed by the apartheid system.”
Mahdawi appeared on “60 Minutes” in December 2023, when he criticized then-Columbia President Minouche Shafik’s response to Hamas’ Oct. 7 assault on Israel for failing to acknowledge the struggling of Palestinians, in keeping with the Intercept.
“That’s why they’re crushing universities now, it’s not solely about Palestine,” he stated.
“Individuals ask me why I’d need to develop into a citizen of a rustic committing genocide. I place confidence in the individuals residing on this nation. The federal government will not be the individuals.”
Impartial Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders blasted Mahdawi’s arrest.
“Mohsen Mahdawi of White River Junction, Vermont was illegally detained by ICE throughout what was presupposed to be the ultimate step in his citizenship course of,” he wrote on X with a joint assertion from fellow state lawmakers, Sen. Peter Welch and Rep. Becca Balint.
“Mr. Mahdawi, a authorized resident of the US, have to be afforded due course of beneath the regulation and instantly launched from detention.”
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