This case has grabbed the attention of Vermonters. Green card holder Mohsen Mahdawi was detained by ICE in Vermont on April 14. A TRO was immediately issued. On April 23, according to VTDigger, U.S. District Court Judge Geoffrey Crawford extended for 90 days the TRO that forces the government to keep Mahdawi in Vermont. A hearing will be held on April 30 to address whether he should be released from detention. The government argues that his presence in the United States “would have serious adverse foreign policy consequences and would compromise a compelling U.S. foreign policy interest.” Mahdawi is a Buddhist.
This profile of the Mohsen Mahdawi case is drawn with lengthy quotes from news reports such as VTDigger, a column by Jim Kenyon of the Valley News, the original petition by Mahdawi’s lawyers to the federal District Court in Vermont, and other sources, which are cited throughout.
Overview
Mohsen Mahdawi, a 34-year-old Palestinian man and lawful U.S. permanent resident since 2015, is a Columbia University student and resident of Vermont. On April 14, he appeared for a naturalization interview in Colchester, Vermont. Instead, he was arrested in an operation that Valley News columnist Jim Kenyon described as a “government-sponsored abduction.”
Mahdawi had anticipated the possibility of arrest. A month earlier, on March 8, ICE agents detained fellow Columbia student Mahmoud Khalil in the lobby of Khalil’s New York apartment building. Both men had co-founded the Palestinian Student Union at Columbia. Khalil is now held at LaSalle Detention Center in Louisiana, with his deportation under litigation. ICE has developed a pattern of relocating detainees—often without notice—to detention facilities in Louisiana or Texas.
At Columbia, Mahdawi was a visible figure in early protests over the Gaza war. He withdrew from active participation in March 2024, prior to the April 17–30 campus occupation. His photograph appeared in The New York Times, and he was interviewed on 60 Minutes in December 2024.
Ahead of the naturalization interview appointment, Mahdawi notified his attorneys, who prepared for an immediate legal response to prevent ICE from sending him promptly out of state, likely to Louisiana. According to VTDigger, when he arrived at the immigration office, masked plainclothes officers arrested him in full view of witnesses, including Vermont State Senator Becca White. In handcuffs and flashing peace signs, he was taken away in an unmarked vehicle with Vermont plates. The individuals involved refused to identify themselves or state the grounds for the arrest.
Mahdawi’s attorneys quickly filed a habeas corpus petition in federal court alleging unlawful detention. U.S. District Judge William Sessions III issued a temporary restraining order preventing Mahdawi’s removal from Vermont or the country. He is currently held at the Northwest State Correctional Facility in St. Albans.
Senator White remarked, “If he can be taken, anyone can be taken.” Vermont’s congressional delegation and Governor Phil Scott also voiced concern. On April 19, more than 500 people gathered at the Hartland Unitarian Universalist Church—where Mahdawi is a longtime member—to show support.
Habeas Corpus petition
The habeas corpus petition filed on April 14 names multiple parties, including President Donald J. Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and officials within the Department of Homeland Security and ICE. The attorneys allege that Mahdawi’s detention is unconstitutional and politically motivated, undertaken in retaliation for his constitutionally protected speech and activism for Palestinian human rights.
The petition cites violations of the First Amendment (free speech), Fifth Amendment (due process), the Administrative Procedure Act, the Accardi doctrine (requiring agencies to follow their own rules), and the non-delegation doctrine. It seeks Mahdawi’s immediate release on bail.
The filing also presents a personal portrait of Mahdawi. Born in a refugee camp in the West Bank, he lived through instability and occupation. He immigrated to the United States in 2014 and became a permanent resident in 2015. He studied computer science at Lehigh University before transferring to Columbia in 2021 to pursue philosophy. He is set to graduate in May 2025 and has been accepted to a master’s program at Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs.
A practicing Buddhist and proponent of nonviolence, Mahdawi led the Columbia University Buddhist Association and co-founded the Palestinian Student Union.
The petition challenges a policy that allows the Secretary of State to designate individuals for removal if their presence is deemed to pose foreign policy complications, based solely on their political speech. The attorneys assert this violates statutory and constitutional protections. Mahdawi’s family in the West Bank has reportedly faced harassment due to his activism, heightening his fear of deportation.
In summary, the petition characterizes Mahdawi as a principled and empathetic individual—devoted to peace, education, and human rights—whose detention represents a threat to civil liberties and constitutional protections.
Vermont community support
As reported by Vermont Public and other sources, Mahdawi is known in Vermont for his warmth, curiosity, and commitment to peacebuilding. He has formed deep bonds across religious and cultural lines, working in local cafés and stores and hosting gatherings at his self-built cabin in West Fairlee. He envisions it as a future retreat center where Palestinian and Israeli youth can connect.
He credits Buddhism with helping him heal from past trauma, and those who know him—rabbis, ministers, neighbors, and friends—describe him as profoundly nonviolent and reflective. “If you speak with him for 20 minutes, you fall in love with him,” said Rabbi Dov Taylor of Woodstock. Taylor’s wife Judith added, “Mohsen is funny and a man of appetites. He loves good food, good wine, good bourbon, and working hard with his hands.”
The Taylors met Mahdawi nearly a decade ago at a film screening about an interfaith trip to Israel and the Palestinian territories. In one 2023 campus incident, Mahdawi publicly condemned an antisemitic remark made during a protest. “There isn’t an angry bone in his body,” said Dov Taylor. “There isn’t an ounce of antisemitism in him. He’s completely opposed to violence, and that comes across when he speaks.”
In 2018, Mahdawi visited a synagogue in Highland Park, Illinois, with the Taylors. “Everyone loved him,” said Dov Taylor. “He was so welcome because of his calm, measured way of speaking.”
In an April 22 visit by Senator Peter Welch to Mahdawi in prison, he said, “[Secretary of State Rubio] is describing anti-war as anti-Semitic. How could that be possible, when most of my partners at Columbia’s campus and beyond are Jews and Israelis. My work has been centered on peacemaking, and all what I am doing, My empathy extends beyond the Palestinian people. My empathy extends to the Jews and to the Israelis. And my hope and my dream is to see this conflict, if one might say, to see an end to the war and into the killing to see a peaceful resolution between Palestinians and Israelis. How could this be a threat to anybody except the war machine?”
Kenyon’s column
Jim Kenyon, of the Valley News, who has known Mahdawi for years, noted that Mahdawi met all green card requirements for naturalization. He had completed several rounds of background checks without incident and traveled abroad—including a recent trip to Greece—without issue. “They know for sure that I’m a safe person,” Mahdawi told Kenyon.
He understood the risk of a trap but felt he had to appear; skipping the appointment could have jeopardized his citizenship application. As a precaution, he left his phone with a friend, fearing that authorities might access his personal data. “Is this my ticket to a detention center in Louisiana?” he wondered. In early March, after Khalil’s arrest, Mahdawi did not leave his apartment for 23 days. Friends delivered food, and he paced his small quarters, logging 10,000 steps a day. Before the Colchester trip, he rotated between safe locations. “This was the Underground Railroad for me,” he said.
Peter Rousmaniere
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Blog:www.workingimmigrants.com
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