Judge Releases Columbia Student, Comparing Detention Threats to Red Scare
Wall Street Journal
By Alyssa Lukpat
Updated April 30, 2025 2:47 pm ET
A federal judge in Vermont ordered the government to release Columbia University student Mohsen Mahdawi while his case proceeds, saying the Trump administration was threatening to deport legal residents for stating their political views.
Mahdawi, a green-card holder, organized pro-Palestinian demonstrations at Columbia. Judge Geoffrey Crawford ordered Mahdawi’s release on the condition he return for all court hearings.
Crawford said legal residents were being arrested and threatened with deportation for sharing opinions, comparing the government’s actions to the McCarthy era. “We certainly saw it in the Red Scare,” said the judge, an Obama appointee.
“The wheel of history has come around again, but as before these times will pass,” the judge said.
The Trump administration has detained students as part of a campaign to crack down on what it says is antisemitism and extremist ideology on college campuses. The government has singled out students with links to pro-Palestinian protests and activism.
Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said, “The Trump administration is committed to restoring the rule of law to our immigration system. No judge, not this one or any other, is going to stop us from doing that.”
Masked agents arrested Mahdawi on April 14 after his scheduled naturalization interview at an immigration office in Colchester, Vermont, according to the American Civil Liberties Union and court records. The interview is one of the final steps in the process to become a U.S. citizen. He passed a citizenship test during the interview, according to court records.
Mahdawi, who is Palestinian, said Wednesday that after his arrest he was taken to a processing center where they already had his flight tickets printed out.
The ACLU said immigration officials tried to put him on a flight to Louisiana. Before the plane took off, a federal judge in Vermont issued a temporary restraining order requiring the government to keep Mahdawi in Vermont. He was held in a state prison until his release Wednesday.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio invoked a seldom used provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act to justify attempts to deport Mahdawi, a lawful permanent resident Rubio claimed posed a threat to U.S. foreign policy.
“They were trying to silence Mohsen’s speech solely because he dared to speak about his people,” said Luna Droubi, one of his lawyers.
Mahdawi is among the first detained foreign students to be released from federal custody since the Trump administration began ramping up arrests.
His lawyers have requested that the court grant his petition for habeas corpus—a legal process for contesting unlawful detention.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement is holding multiple foreign students in detention centers in Louisiana, far from legal counsel and their homes in the U.S. Most of the arrested students have sued the government and asked federal judges to order their release. Their cases are ongoing.
Mahdawi addressed reporters outside a courthouse Wednesday. “You might think I am free but my freedom is interlinked to the freedom of many other students including Rumeysa Ozturk and Mahmoud Khalil,” he said, referencing two other students detained in high-profile cases.
Mahdawi, 34, was born and raised in the West Bank, according to court records. He entered the U.S. legally in 2014 and was married to an American. He owns a cabin he built in Vermont and has lived in the state for a decade.
He is set to graduate from Columbia next month with a degree in philosophy and then start a master’s program.
Columbia said Wednesday, “Every individual in this country, citizen and non-citizen alike, deserves the due process rights afforded them by law.”
He was a member of a Unitarian Universalist society and studied Buddhism. The government reported that he expressed interest in buying a rifle from a Vermont gun shop in 2015 and allegedly said he built guns “to kill Jews while he was in Palestine.” He denied making those comments in an interview with an FBI agent. The agency declined to file charges against Mahdawi.
Mahdawi must remain in Vermont while the case proceeds, but is permitted to travel to New York to meet with his lawyers or attend school.
By Alyssa Lukpat
Updated April 30, 2025 2:47 pm ET
A federal judge in Vermont ordered the government to release Columbia University student Mohsen Mahdawi while his case proceeds, saying the Trump administration was threatening to deport legal residents for stating their political views.
Mahdawi, a green-card holder, organized pro-Palestinian demonstrations at Columbia. Judge Geoffrey Crawford ordered Mahdawi’s release on the condition he return for all court hearings.
Crawford said legal residents were being arrested and threatened with deportation for sharing opinions, comparing the government’s actions to the McCarthy era. “We certainly saw it in the Red Scare,” said the judge, an Obama appointee.
“The wheel of history has come around again, but as before these times will pass,” the judge said.
The Trump administration has detained students as part of a campaign to crack down on what it says is antisemitism and extremist ideology on college campuses. The government has singled out students with links to pro-Palestinian protests and activism.
Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said, “The Trump administration is committed to restoring the rule of law to our immigration system. No judge, not this one or any other, is going to stop us from doing that.”
Masked agents arrested Mahdawi on April 14 after his scheduled naturalization interview at an immigration office in Colchester, Vermont, according to the American Civil Liberties Union and court records. The interview is one of the final steps in the process to become a U.S. citizen. He passed a citizenship test during the interview, according to court records.
Mahdawi, who is Palestinian, said Wednesday that after his arrest he was taken to a processing center where they already had his flight tickets printed out.
The ACLU said immigration officials tried to put him on a flight to Louisiana. Before the plane took off, a federal judge in Vermont issued a temporary restraining order requiring the government to keep Mahdawi in Vermont. He was held in a state prison until his release Wednesday.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio invoked a seldom used provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act to justify attempts to deport Mahdawi, a lawful permanent resident Rubio claimed posed a threat to U.S. foreign policy.
“They were trying to silence Mohsen’s speech solely because he dared to speak about his people,” said Luna Droubi, one of his lawyers.
Mahdawi is among the first detained foreign students to be released from federal custody since the Trump administration began ramping up arrests.
His lawyers have requested that the court grant his petition for habeas corpus—a legal process for contesting unlawful detention.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement is holding multiple foreign students in detention centers in Louisiana, far from legal counsel and their homes in the U.S. Most of the arrested students have sued the government and asked federal judges to order their release. Their cases are ongoing.
Mahdawi addressed reporters outside a courthouse Wednesday. “You might think I am free but my freedom is interlinked to the freedom of many other students including Rumeysa Ozturk and Mahmoud Khalil,” he said, referencing two other students detained in high-profile cases.
Mahdawi, 34, was born and raised in the West Bank, according to court records. He entered the U.S. legally in 2014 and was married to an American. He owns a cabin he built in Vermont and has lived in the state for a decade.
He is set to graduate from Columbia next month with a degree in philosophy and then start a master’s program.
Columbia said Wednesday, “Every individual in this country, citizen and non-citizen alike, deserves the due process rights afforded them by law.”
He was a member of a Unitarian Universalist society and studied Buddhism. The government reported that he expressed interest in buying a rifle from a Vermont gun shop in 2015 and allegedly said he built guns “to kill Jews while he was in Palestine.” He denied making those comments in an interview with an FBI agent. The agency declined to file charges against Mahdawi.
Mahdawi must remain in Vermont while the case proceeds, but is permitted to travel to New York to meet with his lawyers or attend school.
