Getty Images<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\nMr Mahdawi participated in pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia University<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n\n
An organiser of pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia University has been arrested by immigration officials as he attended an interview as part of his application for US citizenship, his lawyer says.<\/p>\n
Mohsen Mahdawi, a green card holder who is due to graduate next month from the New York City college, was detained on Monday in Colchester, Vermont.<\/p>\n
His lawyer said Mr Mahdawi was taken into custody “in direct retaliation” for his role in campus demonstrations against the Israel-Gaza war.<\/p>\n
Others who took part in campus protests against the war, including Columbia University’s Mahmoud Khalil and Tufts University’s Rumeysa Ozturk, have been detained.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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The BBC has contacted US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for more details on Mr Mahdawi’s case.<\/p>\n
Video shared on social media apparently shows him being escorted into a car by two officers wearing police jackets.<\/p>\n
His lawyer, Luna Droubi, said: “The Trump administration detained Mohsen Mahdawi in direct retaliation for his advocacy on behalf of Palestinians and because of his identity as a Palestinian.<\/p>\n
“His detention is an attempt to silence those who speak out against the atrocities in Gaza. It is also unconstitutional.”<\/p>\n
The attorney applied to a federal court for a temporary restraining order to prevent US immigration authorities moving Mr Mahdawi out of Vermont or expelling him from the US.<\/p>\n
Judge William Sessions, an Obama appointee, quickly granted that order.<\/p>\n
The court filing says Mr Mahdawi was born in a refugee camp in the West Bank and moved to the US in 2014.<\/p>\n
It describes the philosophy major as a committed Buddhist who believes in “non-violence and empathy as a central tenet of his religion”.<\/p>\n
The whereabouts of Mr Mahdawi, who has held US permanent resident status since 2015, are unknown, according to Ms Droubi.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Watch: Tufts University student Rumeysa Ozturk arrested by immigration agents<\/figcaption><\/p>\n\n
Mr Mahdawi, who co-founded Columbia’s Palestinian Student Society, has been an outspoken critic of Israel’s military operation in Gaza.<\/p>\n
Last December, he did an interview with CBS’ 60 Minutes programme in which he accused Israel of genocide, which it denies.<\/p>\n
Mr Mahdawi’s detention comes amid an immigration crackdown by President Donald Trump’s administration.<\/p>\n
Last month, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said at least 300 foreign students’ visas had been revoked in an effort to tackle antisemitism on university campuses.<\/p>\n
Critics say US officials are falsely accusing students of anti-Jewish bigotry and violating their right to free speech.<\/p>\n
Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders said on X that Mr Mahdawi “was illegally detained by ICE during what was supposed to be the final step in his citizenship process”.<\/p>\n
The senator said he “must be afforded due process under the law and immediately released from detention”.<\/p>\n
Judge Sessions also held a hearing on Monday in the case of Rumeysa Ozturk, a Turkish student at Boston’s Tufts University, who was arrested by immigration authorities last month.<\/p>\n
He questioned whether the Trump administration would provoke a “constitutional crisis” by not releasing the student from custody if the court were to order that she be moved from detention in Louisiana back to Vermont.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, lawyers for Mahmoud Khalil are currently challenging an immigration judge’s ruling on Friday allowing the government to deport him as a national security risk.<\/p>\n
The Columbia University protest leader was detained last month outside his campus accommodation and transferred to a Louisiana detention centre.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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