US Citizenship for Palestinian Refugee Raises Concerns of Retaliation. A Columbia University student, Mohsen Mahdawi, was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on Monday during a naturalization interview. The 24-year-old refugee activist was accused of being a “lawful permanent resident” who met all requirements for US citizenship.
Mahdawi’s lawyers claim his detention was in retaliation for his advocacy against Israel’s war in Gaza, which he joined protests over at Columbia University. District Judge in Vermont temporarily ordered Mahdawi not be deported or removed from the country.
Elora Mukherjee, a professor and director of Immigrants’ Rights Clinic at Columbia Law School, said that the arrest sends a chilling message – “no one is safe” for exercising their freedom of speech. The incident has sparked concerns over authoritarianism and erosion of civil liberties in the US.
The US government’s actions against Palestinian students who speak out against Israel have been escalating since the Trump administration’s crackdown on alleged antisemitism on college campuses. Other students, including Mahmoud Khalil, a green-card holder and a Palestinian student activist at Columbia, were detained by ICE under similar accusations.
Source: https://www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/2025/04/14/columbia-mohsen-mahdawi-arrested-ice