Just one day before Mohsen Mahdawi out Arrested by immigration agents In what was tolerated was his citizenship interview, the student of Columbia and the Palestinian activist told CBS News that he thought there was the possibility that the long -awaited appointment could be kick.
“It is the first feeling of the same, I have been waiting for this for more than a year,” he is native to Mahdawi-A of the West Bank occupied by Israel who has had a green card during the last decade of CBS News on the eve of his arrest. “And the other feeling is like, expect a minute. Is this a honey ladder?”
Mahdawi was in custody after arriving at his interview in Vermont on Monday. CBS News witnessed federal agents to tie the vests shortly after entering the building, emerging approximately one hour later with Mahdawi in the wives.
His lawyers say that he was arrested under a little used law that allowed foreign citizens to be deported if they represent “consequences of the foreign policy of the serious advertiser”, which gives the last student who faces detention, including the College of Holders of the Card Mahmoud Khalil. Mahdawi’s legal team has asked a judge to release him and claimed that he is punished for protected speech, in violation of the first amendment and his right to due process.
Shortly after Mahdawi’s arrest, federal judge William Sessions ordered the Trump administration not to deported it or take it out of the Vermont state while Sessions reviews the case, giving a request from Mahdawi’s lawyers.
The National Security Department sent a request for comments to the State Department, which declined to comment.
Mahdawi-Who says he was ready to receive his degree in Philosophy at the Union of Palestinian Students of Columbia in May, together with Khalil. Mahdawi was later active in the protests on the Columbia campus against the Israel War in Gaza, which after Hamas’ terrorist attack was launched from the Gaza Strip on October 7, 2023. His lawyers said in a court that presents that Mahdawi “made a step back” of organizing the protests in March 2024, porch The protests later intensified that spring, with protesters who formed camps and occupy a campus building.
The national wave of protests of the Pro-Palestine Campus was a political lightning rod, and critics discussed the demonstrations, and their leaders were not disruptive and presented an anti-Semitic rhetoric. Columbia is one of several schools to face a freezing in federal funds by the Trump administration, which alleges that the Ivy League school “could not protect students and teachers from violence and anti -Semitic harassment.”
Mahdawi told CBS News last weekend, Hey faced “threats” and “intimidation” after talking about protests in a 2023 “60 minutes.” Shortly after President Trump Tok’s office, hey, the attention of Betar USA, a controversial Pro-Israel group that tweeted in January that Mahdawi was in his “sports list.”
The former executive director of the group, Ross Glick, told CBS News that Betar Usa has compiled information about thousands of pro-Palestinian activists and has transmitted it to the Trump administration. He said that it is up to the government to decide if someone supports Hamas: “Once the information is delivered, we are out of the process, right? Ultimately, it depends on the government, voluntary officials.”
Mahdawi backed Betar’s criticism, saying that a group like Betar “manipulates information, creates lies and attached them to the profiles of those students or activists.” Mahdawi has vehemently denied anti -Semitism statements in the protests of Columbia University in general, calling them a “false accusation.”
Hey also told CBS News about the weekend that he is arrested by federal agents: “I want to know that my compassion spread beyond the Palestinian people. My compassion is also for the Jewish people and also for the Israeli.”
After Khalil was arrested outside his apartment owned by Columbia last month, Mahdawi feared that he could be framed below. Khalil is currently celebrated in Louisiana, and his legal future is uncertain: an immigration judge ruled last week, the Trump administration Can advance with deportation But cool your lawyers until the end of April to submit relief applications. His lawyers have indicated that they will appeal the ruling, and are demanding separately to the government for their release.
Mahdawi told CBS News that he begged precautions for his own security, including the avoidance of public spaces, after Khalil’s arrest. Even so, when he turned to the news of a citizenship appointment, he chose to attend, although he suspended, he can lead to his arrest.
“It’s an iony. Destiny’s iony. And I accept the result,” Mahdawi said a day before. “If my story will become another story for the struggle to have justice and democracy in this country, it is.”
