As The Intercept, The New York Times, and other outlets are reporting, Mohsen Mahdawi — a student activist who has been critical of Israel’s actions in Gaza, and is the former president of Columbia University’s Buddhist Association — was detained by immigration officials on Monday, and is understood to be currently held in Vermont after arriving at an immigration center that day in order to take his US citizenship test. A Green Card holder for ten years, Mahdawi has yet to be charged with a crime.
In a statement furnished to CNN, Mahdawi’s attorney, Luna Droubi, writes, “The Trump administration detained Mohsen Mahdawi in direct retaliation for his advocacy on behalf of Palestinians and because of his identity as a Palestinian. His detention is an attempt to silence those who speak out against the atrocities in Gaza. It is also unconstitutional.”
According to The Intercept, Mahdawi’s lawyer’s filing said it “appears that Mahdawi was facing deportation under the obscure provision used in other recent cases that gives Secretary of State Marco Rubio the right to unilaterally declare immigrants as threats to American foreign policy.”
A Vermont federal judge has decreed that Mahdawi is not to be moved out of the United States or Vermont until he orders otherwise.
While it appears that Mahdawi has been targeted for his activism, the Times reports that he’d taken “a step back from student organizing in March 2024, before the establishment of encampments on campus and the takeover of a campus building, Hamilton Hall. In interviews at the time, he said this was driven in part by his immigration status and his beliefs as a practicing Buddhist. For two years, he was the president of the Columbia University Buddhist Association.”
“My motivation comes out of love now, not out of anger, not out of hate,” he is reported as having told an interviewer.
Mahdawi is, as The Intercept puts it, “the ninth Columbia student targeted for deportation as hundreds across the country have had their visas revoked under the Trump administration’s sweeps and abductions of immigrants.”
Monk, scholar, and Buddhist Global Relief founder Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi commented on Facebook:
“Another arrest of a Palestinian student at Columbia University: Mohsen Mahdawi. Mohsen was a Buddhist and had even been the president of the Columbia University Buddhist Students Association. I had a discussion with Mohsen over Zoom about eight months ago (I think). He told me that on witnessing the murder of his uncle and several other relatives by the Israeli occupation forces in the West Bank, he was driven to the brink of despair. His quest for a way to deal with his suffering eventually led him to the Buddha’s teachings. In our Zoom call, Mohsen told me of a project he had in mind: to bring together selected legal thinkers, public intellectuals, jurists, and UN insiders to devise plans to reform the governing structure of the UN so that the Big Global Powers would no longer be able to block important resolutions with their veto power and ability to pressure other states. It’s heartening to see that he has the support here from Sen. Bernie Sanders”
