Court Frees Palestinian Student Arrested by ICE at His U.S. Citizenship Hearing
The arrest of Mohsen Mahdawi was a test of just how far President Donald Trump’s power over immigrants could go. Mahdawi, a ten-year legal U.S. resident and a student at Columbia University, was at his interview to become a U.S. citizen earlier this month. But because he wasn’t a citizen yet, the Trump administration argued that it could deport Mahdawi for his protest activity, and had Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents pick him up at the immigration center.
On Wednesday, however, a federal judge ordered ICE to free Mahdawi, who was born in a refugee camp in the Palestinian territories, while his case proceeded. “The two weeks of detention so far demonstrate great harm to a person who has been charged with no crime,” U.S. District Judge Geoffrey Crawford said at the hearing, according to ABC News. “Mr. Mahdawi, I will order you released.”Â
Although he didn’t rule directly on Mahdawi’s case, Crawford said that Mahdawi was likely to succeed on the merits, and that keeping him locked up would “likely have a chilling effect” on the First Amendment.Â
“The court also considers the extraordinary setting of this case and others like it. Legal residents—not charged with crimes or misconduct—are being arrested and threatened with deportation for stating their views on the political issues of the day,” he wrote in his ruling.
In a speech outside the courthouse, Mahdawi struck a patriotic tone. “For anybody who is doubting justice, this is a light of hope and faith in the justice system in America,” he said. “To President Trump and his cabinet: I am not afraid of you,” he added. The court order doesn’t stop the deportation, but allows Mahdawi to walk free while his case is ongoing, reports Politico.
“I have showed my will, my desire to become an American in a place that I call home in Vermont,” Mahdawi had told NPR from his cell. “And the American government has denied me this opportunity by setting me up, actually deceiving me. So now it’s up to the American people to decide what path they would want to take, whether to
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