Mahadawi, a student at Columbia University, is currently detained in a Vermont prison in the US and says he has a faith in the “ability to justice.”
The Palestinian, who led a peaceful protest against Israeli genocide in Gaza as a Columbia University student, has recently been detained in an interview about his final decision on US citizenship, and says “with a good hand” in the Vermont prison where he is being held.
Mohsen Madawi, a legal permanent resident of the United States, was arrested on April 14th in Colchester, Vermont. He met with Democrat Peter Welch of Vermont on Monday.
US President Donald Trump’s administration is cracking down on Palestinian activities. In the first week of his presidency, Trump pledged to deport students who joined Israel’s protests against the Gaza War that swept US university campuses last year.
“I remain positive by reassuring myself with the ability to justice and the deep belief in democracy,” Mahdawi said in a video of Welch posted to X.
I met Mohsen Mahdawi today.
Listen to his message. pic.twitter.com/mu280oaq9t
– Senator Peter Welch (@senpeterwelch) April 21, 2025
Welch’s office said Mahdawi is in custody at the Northwest State Correctional Facility in St. Albans, Vermont. His case is scheduled for a status meeting on Wednesday. His lawyer called for his release.
The US Department of Justice has not stated why he is in custody. The New York Times reported on April 15 that Secretary of State Marco Rubio wrote a memo saying that Mahdawi’s activities could “potentially undermine” the Middle East peace process. Rubio did not provide evidence of this.
Rubio cited a law that is rarely used to justify the deportation of Mahmoud Khalil, a graduate student at Columbia University. It gives the United States the authority to deport those who have “potentially serious and unfavorable diplomatic impacts for the United States.”
Halil says he is a political prisoner. He also said his wife Noor Abdallah on Monday, he also missed the birth of his son after being denied temporary release to attend the birth.
Abdallah said that after U.S. Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE) made a “deliberate decision” to torment the family, Khalil didn’t attend and gave birth to the couple’s first child in New York.
The immigration judge ruled on April 11 that Khalil could be forced out of the state after his lawyers advocated the legality of deporting activists who participated in pro-Palestinian demonstrations. His lawyers are scheduled to appeal.
A US immigration judge in Louisiana last week determined that Halil, who was detained last month, could be deported. It sets precedents for efforts to banish foreign students to oppose foreign students, despite the fact that foreign students are legally in the country.
Trump also threatened to suspend federal funding for schools, universities and universities if he grants what he called an “illegal protest.”
In another well-known case, immigration officers attempted to detain Lu Mesa Oztzuruk, a Tufts University student from Tulkiye, and Colombian student Yunzeo Chung, a permanent resident of the United States from South Korea.
