U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents recently arrested a green card holder and prominent pro-Palestine student activist from Columbia University.
The protest organizer, Mohsen Mahdawi, is from the West Bank and was detained in Burlington, Vermont on April 14 when he attempted to apply for U.S. citizenship, as reported by The New York Post.
ICE agents snatch anti-Israel Columbia protester Mohsen Madawi during his US citizenship appointment https://t.co/SO4aCvT7p3 pic.twitter.com/X7jyLYJlEX
— New York Post (@nypost) April 15, 2025
According to ABC News, Mahdawi co-founded an anti-Israel group at Columbia called the Palestinian Student Union, alongside Mahmoud Khalil.
According to a habeas petition filed by Mahdawi’s attorneys on April 14, the student has been an “outspoken critic” of Israel while at Columbia University.
“Mr. Mahdawi recently attended Columbia University, and he intends to return for a master’s degree in fall of 2025,” the petition states. “As a student at Columbia, Mr. Mahdawi 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 of 2024, after which he took a step back and has not been involved in organizing.”
Mahdawi accused the U.S. government of committing “genocide,” according to The New York Post. “People ask me why I would want to become a citizen of a country committing genocide,” Madawi reportedly said.
Mahdawi is not the only anti-Israel student protester to be threatened with deportation. Last month, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that the State Department has revoked more than 300 student visas of allegedly pro-Hamas individuals.
“Every time I find one of these lunatics, I take away their visa,” Rubio said in a press conference.
“It is a privilege to be granted a visa to live and study in the United States of America,” Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem noted in a recent statement. “When you advocate for violence and terrorism that privilege should be revoked, and you should not be in this country.”
Campus Reform has reported about various anti-Semitic incidents at Columbia University over the past several months. Earlier this semester, pro-Palestine activists at the school distributed a “manual” on how to cause disruption during pro-Palestine protests, including by using sledgehammers to cause “quite a bit of damage.”
Last month, Secretary of Education Linda McMahon discussed how she urged the Columbia administration to do a better job vetting international students to prevent potential supporters of terrorism from gaining admission to the school.
A Columbia spokesperson declined to comment, citing the school’s Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) obligations.
Campus Reform has contacted the Department of Homeland Security for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.
This article was originally published at campusreform.org
