Detention of Mohsen Mahdawi

{{Main|Mohsen Mahdawi}}

Mohsen Mahdawi is a third-generation Palestinian refugee{{Cite news |last1=Cruz |first1=Liset |last2=Fahy |first2=Claire |date=November 15, 2023 |title=Columbia Faces Protests After Suspending 2 Pro-Palestinian Groups |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/15/nyregion/columbia-university-ban-student-groups-israel-hamas-war.html?searchResultPosition=1 |access-date=2025-04-14 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}} from the Far'a refugee camp, where he lived until 2014.{{Cite web |last=Mansoor |first=Saad |date=March 24, 2019 |title=Lehigh holds vigil after massacre |url=https://thebrownandwhite.com/2019/03/23/lehigh-community-holds-vigil-for-new-zealand-attacks/ |access-date=2025-04-14 |website=The Brown and White |language=en-US}} Mahdawi said that, in his childhood in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, he saw his best friend—then 12 years old—shot and killed by an Israeli soldier.{{Cite web |last=Whitaker |first=Bill |author-link=Bill Whitaker (journalist) |date=December 3, 2023 |title=60 Minutes: Tensions over the ongoing Israel-Hamas war surge on college campuses |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/college-campus-israel-hamas-war-tensions-60-minutes-transcript/?ftag=CNM-00-10aab7d&linkId=252719486 |access-date=2025-04-14 |website=CBS News |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |date=April 14, 2025 |title=Columbia University student arrested, detained by DHS agents, lawyer says |url=https://abc7ny.com/post/columbia-university-student-arrested-detained-dhs-agents-lawyer-says/16171776/ |access-date=2025-04-14 |website=ABC7 New York |language=en}} He also said an Israeli soldier shot him in the leg when he was 15.{{Cite web |last=Mendell |first=Chris |title=Hundreds of pro-Palestinian students walk out as part of national call to action, gather for 'peaceful protest art installation' |url=https://www.columbiaspectator.com/news/2023/11/10/hundreds-of-pro-palestinian-students-walk-out-as-part-of-national-call-to-action-gather-for-peaceful-protest-art-installation/ |access-date=2025-04-15 |website=Columbia Daily Spectator}}

In 2014, Mahdawi moved to the United States, and in 2015 he became a legal permanent resident with a green card. He enrolled at Lehigh University in Pennsylvania in 2018 to study computer science, before transferring to Columbia University's School of General Studies to study philosophy.{{Cite web |last=Alfred |first=Tsehai |title=Palestinian activist Mohsen Mahdawi, GS '25, detained by ICE at naturalization appointment |url=https://www.columbiaspectator.com/news/2025/04/14/palestinian-activist-mohsen-mahdawi-gs-25-detained-by-ice-at-naturalization-appointment/ |access-date=2025-04-14 |website=Columbia Daily Spectator}}{{Cite web |date=April 14, 2025 |title=Mohsen Mahdawi: Palestinian student activist arrested at US citizenship interview |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cwy0332y7xzo |access-date=2025-04-15 |website=BBC News |language=en-GB}} He was expected to graduate in May 2025, and was accepted into a master's program at Columbia's School of International and Public Affairs.

Following the outbreak of the Gaza war in October 2023, Mahdawi led and helped organize pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia University. In a December 2023 interview with 60 Minutes, he has said that Israel was committing genocide in Gaza and that he wanted a peaceful end to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. Mahdawi and fellow Columbia student Mahmoud Khalil co-founded Dar: the Palestinian Student Society to "celebrate Palestinian culture, history, and identity".

{{Further|Columbia University pro-Palestinian campus protests and occupations during the Gaza war#November 9, 2023: Walkout and art installation at Low Plaza}}

At a walkout, art installation, and die-in protest held by Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) at the steps of Low Memorial Library on November 9, 2023, Mahdawi told his story of growing up in a refugee camp in the Israeli occupied West Bank, of witnessing his 12-year-old best friend killed in front of him by an Israeli soldier, and of being shot in the leg himself at 15 years of age, also by an Israeli soldier.{{Cite web |last=Mendell |first=Chris |title=Hundreds of pro-Palestinian students walk out as part of national call to action, gather for 'peaceful protest art installation' |url=https://www.columbiaspectator.com/news/2023/11/10/hundreds-of-pro-palestinian-students-walk-out-as-part-of-national-call-to-action-gather-for-peaceful-protest-art-installation/ |access-date=2025-04-21 |website=Columbia Daily Spectator}} There were pro-Israel counter-protesters, whom Mahdawi addressed: "Even though you're on the other side, we beg you, we cry, we ask you to see the humanity in us, to join us in our fight for freedom, for justice, for humanity."

An unidentified person interrupted the protest, approaching and screaming anti-Jewish and anti-Black slurs and profanities, climbing over a chain barrier and reportedly trying "to instigate fights with numerous students". According to The New York Times, a "student on the outskirts of a Nov. 9 protest had shouted antisemitic curses", but "he was not affiliated with any of the student groups, and was shouted down by the pro-Palestinian protesters",{{Cite news |last=Otterman |first=Sharon |date=December 28, 2023 |title=How Columbia's President Has Avoided Fallout Over Israel-Gaza Protests |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/28/nyregion/columbia-university-israel-protests-nemat-shafik.html?searchResultPosition=3 |access-date=2025-03-10 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}} including Mahdawi,{{Cite web |last=Bose |first=Meghnad |title=The State Department Relied on Columbia University's Mischaracterization of Protests to Arrest Mohsen Mahdawi |url=https://www.dropsitenews.com/p/mohsen-mahdawi-arrest-columbia-university-trump-legal-justification |access-date=2025-04-20 |website=www.dropsitenews.com |language=en}} who denounced the individual directly. Using the microphone, Mahdawi said, "Shame on the person who called [for] 'death to Jews,'" and the crowd of demonstrators started chanting "shame on you", joining in his condemnation of the unidentified individual's hateful remarks.

The following day, Gerald Rosberg, then a senior administrator at Columbia, announced the suspension of SJP and JVP for what he called an "unauthorized event" that included "threatening rhetoric and intimidation".{{Cite web |date=March 6, 2025 |title=Statement From Gerald Rosberg, Chair of the Special Committee on Campus Safety |url=https://news.columbia.edu/news/statement-gerald-rosberg-chair-special-committee-campus-safety |access-date=2025-03-10 |website=Columbia News |language=en}}{{Cite web |last=Huddleston |first=Sarah |title=Columbia suspends SJP and JVP following 'unauthorized' Thursday walkout |url=https://www.columbiaspectator.com/news/2023/11/10/columbia-suspends-sjp-and-jvp-following-unauthorized-thursday-walkout/ |access-date=2025-03-10 |website=Columbia Daily Spectator}} The suspension came after senior administrators quietly revised policies cited in the suspension on October 24, adding a new section to the University Event Policy webpage that declared the administration's right to "regulate the time, place and manner of certain forms of public expression"{{Cite web |last=Huddleston |first=Sarah |title=Top administration revised policies cited in SJP and JVP's suspension without University Senate input, Rosberg confirms |url=https://www.columbiaspectator.com/news/2023/11/17/top-administration-revised-policies-cited-in-sjp-and-jvps-suspension-without-university-senate-input-rosberg-confirms/ |access-date=2025-03-10 |website=Columbia Daily Spectator}} without input from the University Senate.{{Cite web |last=Huddleston |first=Sarah |title=Columbia updated its event policy webpages. Seventeen days later, it suspended SJP and JVP. |url=https://www.columbiaspectator.com/news/2023/11/17/columbia-updated-its-event-policy-webpages-seventeen-days-later-it-suspended-sjp-and-jvp/ |access-date=2025-03-10 |website=Columbia Daily Spectator}}

Columbia's claim that the "threatening rhetoric and intimidation" came from SJP and JVP was debunked by journalists, and retracted by Rosberg privately in a University Senate Plenary on November 17, 2023. However, Columbia did not reverse the suspension of SJP and JVP, and it never retracted the statement; nor did it issue a public statement to correct and clarify the matter.{{Cite web |last=Bose |first=Meghnad |title=The State Department Relied on Columbia University's Mischaracterization of Protests to Arrest Mohsen Mahdawi |url=https://www.dropsitenews.com/p/mohsen-mahdawi-arrest-columbia-university-trump-legal-justification |access-date=2025-04-27 |website=www.dropsitenews.com |language=en}} U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio later cited the phrase "threatening rhetoric and intimidation" verbatim, apparently drawing from the statement that Columbia never retracted, in an April 2025 memo drawn up to support his case against Mahdawi.{{Cite news |last1=Aleaziz |first1=Hamed |last2=Bromwich |first2=Jonah E. |date=April 15, 2025 |title=U.S. Cites Mideast Peace Process to Justify Move to Deport Student |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/15/nyregion/rubio-mahdawi-deportation-letter.html |access-date=2025-04-27 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}

Mahdawi also helped organize and launch Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD), a coalition of over 80 student groups{{Cite web |last=Mendell |first=Chris |title=Over 80 student groups form coalition following suspension of SJP, JVP |url=https://www.columbiaspectator.com/news/2023/11/29/over-80-student-groups-form-coalition-following-suspension-of-sjp-jvp/ |access-date=2025-03-10 |website=Columbia Daily Spectator}} (later amassing over 120 student groups){{Cite journal |last1=M. |first1=Dasha |last2=Qashou |first2=Luma |last3=Behrangi |first3=Parviz |last4=Reynolds |first4=Caroline |last5=Haddad |first5=Amal |date=July 2, 2024 |title=Palestine is the Vanguard for Our Liberation: Insights from the Students' Intifada at Columbia University |url=https://doi.org/10.1080/19436149.2024.2383827 |journal=Middle East Critique |volume=33 |issue=3 |pages=487–516 |doi=10.1080/19436149.2024.2383827 |issn=1943-6149|url-access=subscription }} formed after Columbia's administration quietly changed the university's event policy before banning Students for Justice in Palestine and Jewish Voice for Peace.{{cite news |date=November 14, 2023 |title=Columbia University Apartheid Divest: Who we are |url=https://www.columbiaspectator.com/opinion/2023/11/14/columbia-university-apartheid-divest-who-we-are/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250310194839/https://www.columbiaspectator.com/opinion/2023/11/14/columbia-university-apartheid-divest-who-we-are/ |archive-date=March 10, 2025 |access-date=March 11, 2025 |work=Columbia Daily Spectator}} CUAD was launched on November 14, four days after the administration banned SJP and JVP. CUAD led multiple pro-Palestinian demonstrations calling on the university to divest from Israel.

In the spring of 2024, Mahdawi stepped back from the movement to focus on fostering connections with Jewish and Israeli students. He invited several of his critics, including assistant professor Shai Davidai, to speak with him,{{Cite web |last=Alfred |first=Tsehai |title='Thoughtful, compassionate, intelligent': Friends of Mohsen Mahdawi, GS '25, speak against characterizations of him by the federal government |url=https://www.columbiaspectator.com/news/2025/04/17/thoughtful-compassionate-intelligent-friends-of-mohsen-mahdawi-gs-25-speak-against-characterizations-of-him-by-the-federal-government/ |access-date=2025-04-19 |website=Columbia Daily Spectator}} and remained in contact with David Myers, a former leader of the progressive New Israel Fund and a professor of Jewish history at the University of California, Los Angeles.{{Cite news |last1=Ley |first1=Ana |last2=Otterman |first2=Sharon |last3=Bhutani |first3=Anvee |date=April 17, 2025 |title=He Wanted Peace in the Middle East. ICE Wants to Deport Him. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/16/nyregion/columbia-activist-mahdawi-ice-palestinian.html |access-date=2025-04-19 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}} He repeatedly denounced antisemitism in speeches and interviews, and connected his opposition to antisemitism with his support for the Palestinian cause, saying that "the fight for the freedom of Palestine and the fight against antisemitism go hand in hand, because injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."{{Cite web |last=Lacy |first=Akela |date=April 15, 2025 |title="How Can I Take Anyone Seriously Talking About Mohsen Being Antisemitic?" |url=https://theintercept.com/2025/04/15/rubio-antisemitism-mahdawi-columbia-student-ice-palestine-israel/ |access-date=2025-04-19 |website=The Intercept |language=en-US}} One of Mahdawi's Israeli colleagues, Aharon Dardik, stated that Mahdawi was vocally opposed to terrorism and antisemitism, instead advocating for peaceful opposition to the conflict. Mahdawi and Dardik created a "framework for the solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict" as one of their class's final research projects.

Mahdawi's arrest by ICE agents was in coordination with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) office in Colchester, Vermont, which had scheduled an April 15 interview for Mahdawi to obtain his U.S. citizenship. After the interview, he was handcuffed by hooded and masked immigration plain-clothes officers and escorted into an unmarked vehicle.

According to his attorney Luna Droubi, "Mohsen Mahdawi was unlawfully detained today for no reason other than his Palestinian identity." She also called it "unconstitutional" and "an attempt to silence those who speak out against the atrocities in Gaza".

According to Senator Peter Welch, Mahdawi was detained at the Northwest State Correctional Facility in St. Albans.{{Cite web |date=April 22, 2025 |title=Detained Palestinian activist in Vermont prison says he's 'in good hands' |url=https://apnews.com/article/mohsen-mahdawi-detained-arrest-vermont-c9938cb5d46f26176d3be4ae2bcb79b4 |access-date=2025-04-24 |website=AP News |language=en}}

Earlier in the month, Mahdawi had received an email from USCIS stating that he had an interview scheduled to obtain his US citizenship. Because the ordinary timeline for the interview would have placed it in December or January, Mahdawi suspected it might be a trap and contacted his representatives in Congress, Senators Bernie Sanders and Peter Welch as well as Representative Becca Balint to inform them of the situation and ask them to intervene if possible. He also contacted State Senator Rebecca White, who had known Mahdawi for around seven years, for her advice on the matter. White cautioned Mahdawi against going.{{Cite web |last=McDonnell Nieto del Rio |first=Giulia |date=April 15, 2025 |title=Columbia student Mohsen Mahdawi and his friends expected his arrest by immigration authorities ahead of citizenship interview |url=https://www.bostonglobe.com/2025/04/15/metro/student-activist-mohsen-mahdawi-prepared-arrest/ |access-date=2025-04-24 |website=Boston Globe |language=en-US}} Mahdawi created a Signal group chat titled "Just in case – Mohsen" to communicate with his close friends if he was arrested. White was among those included in the chat.{{Cite news |last=Slater |first=Joanna |date=April 23, 2025 |title=Columbia student arrested by ICE has deep well of support in Vermont |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2025/04/23/columbia-student-ice-mohsen-mahdawi/ |access-date=2025-04-24 |newspaper=The Washington Post |language=en-US |issn=0190-8286}}

In the period leading up to his arrest, Mahdawi was targeted by Zionist groups such as Canary Mission and Betar. Canary Mission has an extensive dossier on Mahdawi, in which it claims he wrote a poem in 2013 praising Palestinian militant Dalal Mughrabi and cites a social media post in which he mourns the killing of his cousin, whom it calls a Hamas fighter, by Israeli soldiers. The website mostly accuses him of supporting disinvestment from Israel and being involved in the protest movement Canary Mission describes as "pro-Hamas".

According to The Intercept, even before the arrest of his friend and fellow activist at Columbia Mahmoud Khalil, Mahdawi had reached out to Columbia University administration seeking help so he would not be taken by ICE agents. In a March 17 email addressed to then-Columbia President Katrina Armstrong, School of General Studies dean Lisa Rosen-Metsch, Columbia chief operating officer Cas Holloway, senior vice president of Columbia Health Melanie Bernitz, as well as the Columbia dean of religious life Ian Rottenberg, he wrote: "I am writing to you with a final plea for urgent help. My life is in danger, and Columbia University’s inaction is putting me at further risk."{{Cite web |last=Thakker |first=Prem |title=Emails Show Mohsen Mahdawi Pleaded with Columbia for Protection for Months Before ICE Detained Him |url=https://zeteo.com/p/emails-show-mohsen-mahdawi-pleaded |access-date=2025-04-20 |website=zeteo.com |language=en}} The school did nothing to respond to his appeal.

{{Infobox court case

| name = Mahdawi v. Trump

| court = U.S. District Court for the District of Vermont

| judge = Geoffrey Crawford

| italic title = n

| docket = [https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/69888582/mahdawi-v-trump/ 2:25-cv-00389]

| CourtSeal = District-Vermont.png

}}

On April 14, Mahdawi's legal team filed a habeas corpus petition against Donald Trump and his administration, describing his detention as unlawful. His lawyers requested a temporary restraining order to prevent him from being transferred out of Vermont by federal authorities. Vermont federal judge William K. Sessions III granted the request and ordered that Mahdawi remain in Vermont.{{Cite news |last1=Otterman |first1=Sharon |last2=Ley |first2=Ana |date=April 14, 2025 |title=Columbia Activist Arrested by ICE at His Appointment for Citizenship |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/14/nyregion/columbia-student-palestinian-arrested-ice.html |access-date=2025-04-14 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}} Vermont federal judge Geoffrey W. Crawford extended the request on April 23.{{Cite news |last=Amatulli |first=Jenna |date=April 23, 2025 |title=Judge orders bail hearing for detained student Mohsen Mahdawi next week |url=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/apr/23/mohsen-mahdawi-bail-hearing-vermont |access-date=2025-04-24 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}} According to immigration lawyer Joshua Bardavid, "a case is heard where you are detained, and certain courts are known for being much more government-friendly than other locations."{{Cite news |last=Ley |first=Ana |date=April 30, 2025 |title=Columbia Student Who Was Arrested at Citizenship Interview Is Freed |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/30/nyregion/columbia-student-mohsen-mahdawi-freed.html |access-date=2025-05-07 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}

A memo from US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, apparently drawing from Columbia's mischaracterization of a campus protest on November 9, 2023, stated that Mahdawi had "engaged in threatening rhetoric and intimidation of pro-Israeli bystanders" as a justification for targeting him.{{Cite news |last1=Aleaziz |first1=Hamed |last2=Bromwich |first2=Jonah E. |date=April 15, 2025 |title=U.S. Cites Mideast Peace Process to Justify Move to Deport Student |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/15/nyregion/rubio-mahdawi-deportation-letter.html?searchResultPosition=1 |access-date=2025-04-20 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}{{Cite web |last=Bose |first=Meghnad |title=The State Department Relied on Columbia University's Mischaracterization of Protests to Arrest Mohsen Mahdawi |url=https://www.dropsitenews.com/p/mohsen-mahdawi-arrest-columbia-university-trump-legal-justification |access-date=2025-04-20 |website=Drop Site News |language=en}} This claim was denied by Mahdawi and his lawyer and appears to have been taken verbatim from a November 2023 statement from Columbia University in which it suspended Students for Justice in Palestine and Jewish Voice for Peace. The claim that the "threatening rhetoric and intimidation" came from SJP and JVP was debunked by journalists and retracted by Rosberg privately in a University Senate Plenary on November 17, 2023, but Columbia never issued a public statement to correct and clarify the matter.

On April 30, 2025, Judge Crawford ordered Mahdawi's release on bail,{{cite news | title=Opinion and order on motion for release| newspaper=The Washington Post | url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/documents/aaf6e523-b8ef-4fc4-9f58-7f33fb3d129e.pdf | access-date=2025-05-31}}{{cite web | title=Opinion and order on motion for release | url=https://ia800706.us.archive.org/35/items/gov.uscourts.vtd.39338/gov.uscourts.vtd.39338.54.0.pdf | access-date=2025-05-31}} stating that "the two weeks of detention so far demonstrate great harm to a person who has been charged with no crime." The government attempted to delay Mahdawi's release and keep him in detention by requesting a stay of the order, which was denied by the judge.{{Cite web |title=Federal Court Orders Columbia Student Mohsen Mahdawi Released on Bail |url=https://www.aclu.org/press-releases/federal-court-orders-columbia-student-mohsen-mahdawi-released-on-bail |access-date=2025-04-30 |website=American Civil Liberties Union |language=en-US}} The Trump administration then appealed to the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, asking the court for an emergency stay of Crawford's ruling and challenging the determination that Crawford had authority to make such a ruling. The case was assigned to judges Susan Carney, Alison Nathan, and Barrington Parker, and on May 9, they denied the appeal.{{Cite web |last=Quinn |first=Melissa |date=May 9, 2025 |title=Columbia activist Mohsen Mahdawi can remain free from custody while suing over detention, appeals court says |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/mohsen-mahdawi-can-remain-free-from-custody-appeals-court-rules-trump-administration-detained/ |access-date=2025-05-09 |website=CBS News |language=en-US}}

In his statement outside the courtroom following his release, Mahdawi told a crowd of supporters, "we are pro-peace and anti-war" and "to President Trump and his Cabinet, I'm not afraid of you," following up with, "to my people in Palestine: I feel your pain, I see your suffering; and I see freedom and it is very very soon."{{Cite web |date=April 30, 2025 |title=US releases Mohsen Mahdawi, detained Columbia student activist |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c98gvp76l50o |access-date=2025-04-30 |website=www.bbc.com |language=en-GB}} He then joined the crowd in singing the Civil Rights anthem, We Shall Overcome.{{cite news |last=Slater |first=Joanna |date=April 30, 2025 |title=Judge orders release of Columbia student arrested by ICE |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2025/04/30/columbia-student-ice-mohsen-mahdawi-released/ |newspaper=The Washington Post}}

All three of Vermont's members of Congress, Senator Bernie Sanders, Senator Peter Welch, and Representative Becca Balint, released a joint statement the day of the detention condemning it as "immoral, inhumane, and illegal".{{Cite web |last=Roy |first=Yash |date=April 15, 2025 |title=A Palestinian student leader at Columbia was steps away from his final citizenship interview. He instead faces deportation |url=https://www.cnn.com/2025/04/14/us/mohsen-mahdawi-columbia-university-trump/index.html |access-date=2025-04-15 |website=CNN |language=en}} State Senator Rebecca White, who has known Mahdawi for around seven years, also condemned the arrest, stating, "I had told constituents, 'You are safe here.' And I can no longer say that."

Senator Welch met with Mahdawi, who was detained at the Northwest State Correctional Facility in St. Albans. During the meeting, Mahdawi stated that he was staying positive, expressing faith in the "ability of justice and the deep belief of democracy" in the United States. He also reiterated his support for peace, as well as his empathy for both Palestinians and Israelis.

Several Israeli citizens in New York signed an open letter opposing Mahdawi's detention. The letter noted that Mahdawi had actively worked to establish communication with Israelis.{{Cite web |last=Drill |first=Josh |date=April 16, 2025 |title=As Israelis in New York, we're horrified by ICE's detention of one of our Palestinian partners in peace |url=https://forward.com/opinion/712747/ice-vermont-mohsen-mahdawi-columbia-university/ |access-date=2025-04-19 |website=The Forward |language=en}} David Myers, former leader of the progressive New Israel Fund and a professor of Jewish history at the University of California, Los Angeles, similarly criticized Mahdawi's detention, stating, "This person constitutes a bridge, and we've torn that bridge down instead of embracing it." A former Israeli classmate and friend of Mahdawi, Aharon Dardik, defended Mahdawi, stating,

{{Blockquote|text=The irony of him, of all people, being someone they target is so funny to me – this person who has denounced violence. This is a person who had a split from the protest movement because he felt like they were not self-policing. This is a person who has had many, many disagreements with the pro-Palestine movement for feeling that they are refusing to moderate.}}

A coalition of 135 Buddhist leaders and teachers signed an open letter demanding the release of Mahdawi and other student activists. A second letter, written by the Buddhist Association of the United States president Bhikkhu Bodhi, defended Mahdawi's character and faith; Bodhi and Mahdawi had met earlier in 2024.{{Cite web |last=Sperry |first=Rod Meade |title=Coalition of Buddhist teachers, Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi issue new letters of support for Mohsen Mahdawi |url=https://www.lionsroar.com/coalition-of-buddhist-teachers-ven-bhikkhu-bodhi-issue-new-letters-of-support-for-mohsen-mahdawi/ |access-date=2025-04-25 |website=Lion’s Roar |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |last=Keezing |first=Michael Santi |date=April 21, 2025 |title=Mohsen Mahdawi, the Buddhist |url=https://tricycle.org/article/mohsen-mahdawi-the-buddhist/ |access-date=2025-04-25 |website=Tricycle: The Buddhist Review |language=en}}

An article in The Boston Globe profiled the high level of support for Mahdawi in his home state of Vermont, covering a substantial protest at his remote place of detention.{{Cite web |last=Heintz |first=Paul |date=April 16, 2025 |title='The town loved him': Palestinian student detained in Vermont forged deep connections in the Upper Valley - The Boston Globe |url=https://www.bostonglobe.com/2025/04/16/metro/palestinian-detainee-mohsen-mahdawi-beloved-in-vermont/ |access-date=2025-04-18 |website=Boston Globe |language=en-US}}

• Detention of Mahmoud Khalil, a case involving another Columbia University student
• Detention of Rümeysa Öztürk, a case involving a Tufts University student
• Activist deportations in the second Trump presidency
• Deportation in the second presidency of Donald Trump

{{reflist}}

• [https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/69888582/mahdawi-v-trump/ Mahdawi v. Trump case docket], District of Vermont, case 2:25-cv-00389
• [https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/70034948/mahdawi-v-trump/ Mahdawi v. Trump case docket], Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, case 25-1113
• [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=grj328-hlhA Excerpt from CBS 60 Minutes interview with Mahdawi in 2024]
• [https://www.cbsnews.com/video/columbia-student-detained-by-dhs-worried-citizenship-appointment-was-a-trap/ CBS News interview with Mahdawi the day before his arrest]
• [https://aglobalreach.wistia.com/medias/r4t0ci7y36 Video of Mahdawi speaking on his life experiences and beliefs before a 2024 Santa Barbara audience]

{{2024 pro-Palestinian protests on university campuses}}

{{Second presidency of Donald Trump}}

{{Gaza war}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Detention of Mohsen Mahdawi}}

Category:2024 pro-Palestinian protests on university campuses in the United States

Category:2025 controversies in the United States

Category:2025 in American politics

Category:March 2025 in the United States

Category:April 2025 in the United States

Category:Anti-Palestinian sentiment in the United States

Mahdawi, Mohsen

>Mahdawi, Mohsen

Category:Civil rights of students

Category:Deportation from the United States

Category:Freedom of speech in the United States

Category:History of Columbia University

Category:Immigration policy of Donald Trump

Category:Law enforcement controversies in the United States

Category:Marco Rubio

Category:Palestinian-American history

Category:Political repression in the United States

Category:Second Trump administration controversies

Category:U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement