Even green card holders are not safe from illegal deportations, a recent arrest has proven. On Monday, Palestine-born Mohsen Mahdawi was detained in Vermont despite holding a green card. After living in the U.S. for ten years, Mahdawi, a student at Columbia University, had hopes of passing his interview to become a naturalized citizen.
However, such dreams were dashed as he was arrested while attending the interview at the U.S Citizenship and Immigration Services office in Colchester, Vermont. Footage capturing the moment Mahdawi was taken into custody from the interview surfaced on X.
The video opened up with the student walking out of the office building in handcuffs. Two men wearing black hoods with HSI Police (Homeland Security Investigations) inscribed on them led him into a tinted vehicle. Soon after Mahdawi’s arrest, his lawyer challenged the legality of the detention.
The attorney filed a Habeas Corpus stating that the student’s rights were violated because of his views on Palestine and Israel. According to the filing, the student faces deportation under a provision that allows the Secretary of State to declare immigrants as threats to U.S. foreign policy unilaterally.
Up until 2024, Mahdawi was one of the leaders of the pro-Palestine student protest movement. In 2023, he was tagged as anti-Semitic and pro-Hamas after a lecturer at the University published a thread about the protest organizers.
Unfortunately, since Trump took office, there has been heavy scrutiny on foreign students participating in the campus pro-Palestine movement. Mahdawi is now facing a deportation order,
Speaking about the Palestinian’s arrest, his attorney told The Intercept that the government was punishing his client. “Mohsen Mahdawi was unlawfully detained today for no reason other than his Palestinian identity,” disclosed the lawyer. “He came into this country hoping to be free to speak about the atrocities he had witnessed only to be punished for such speech.”
News of Mahdawi’s detention has sparked an outrage among netizens who criticized the government.
One user wrote, “I’m sorry to say but you guys are done. It’s over. Fully fascist country now. No more fair elections and no more protesting when you think that’s unfair. And when you do protest, you’ll be rounded up like this with no due process, just straight to jail.”
Another internet user penned, “He wasn’t apprehended. He was abducted, with another netizen replying, “Yup, this should be called what it is. Abducting and Human Trafficking.”
A third person added, “Frightening to see these hooded and masked men strip a green card holder of rights without protection for free speech!”
The government has not responded to the Habeas Corpus, and it is yet to be known if the immigrant has been put on a flight out of the state.
