Who Is Mohsen Mahdawi? Another Columbia Student Detained By Immigration Officials

Mohsen Mahdawi, a student at Columbia University, Palestinian and permanent U.S. resident, was detained by immigration authorities and taken into custody during his interview for naturalization in Vermont, multiple outlets reported—marking the second Columbia student to be targeted by the Trump administration.

Mahdawi—who attended Columbia and plans to get his master’s degree there in the fall—was born in a refugee camp in the West Bank, is a permanent resident of the U.S. and has had a green card for 10 years, according to a legal filing challenging his detention.

The legal challenge “concerns the government’s retaliatory and targeted detention and attempted removal of Mr. Mahdawi for his constitutionally protected speech,” and notes he was “was an outspoken critic of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza and an activist and organizer in student protests on Columbia’s campus” until March, when he stopped organizing.