Photo: Amanda Swinhart/AP Photo
On Wednesday, a federal judge in Vermont ordered the immediate release of Mohsen Mahdawi, a Palestinian Columbia University student and activist, while his legal case proceeds. U.S. District Judge Geoffrey Crawford’s ruling appears to mark the first release of a high-profile detainee since Trump campaign to target foreign students in the country began.
Mahdawi, a legal permanent resident, was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents on April 14 during an appointment for his pending U.S. citizenship application. According to Mahdawi’s attorney, the 34-year-old was born in a refugee camp in the West Bank, moved to the United States in 2014 and was set to graduate from Columbia University next month with plans to return to the institution for a Master’s program in the fall. His legal team has argued that Mahdawi is being targeted for utilizing his right to free speech.
Outside the federal courthouse in Burlington, a newly freed Mahdawi sent a strong message of defiance to Trump and his administration. “I am saying it clear and loud. To President Trump and his Cabinet: I am not afraid of you,” he said, per Politico.
“I am saying it clear and loud,” Mahdawi said, the Columbia student who was just released. “To President Trump and his cabinet: I am not afraid of you.” https://t.co/RIxGzN6ixw pic.twitter.com/P8UE3otMzP
— Liz Crampton (@liz_crampton) April 30, 2025
In a court filing, the Trump administration said it had determined Mahdawi’s “presence and activities in the United States would have serious adverse foreign policy consequences,” according to NBC News, the same obscure provision cited in its detention of Mahmoud Khalil. Like Mahdawi, Khalil is a Columbia University student of Palestinian descent who was arrested by federal immigration agents in March. Khalil and Mahdawi participated in and helped to organize the university’s on-campus protests against the Gaza conflict and the two students co-founded the Palestinian Student Union in 2023, per CNN. Khalil still remains in federal custody in an ICE facility in Louisiana where he continues to fight his detention.
