15 April 2025, Israel, David Young- Mohsen Mahdawi, an anti-Israeli student activist and graduate of Columbia University, was arrested in Vermont on Monday by Immigration and Customs Enforcement Officers.
Through a spokesman with the US State Department, we learned that Mahdawi was active in the Columbia University protests in the fall of 2024 and “has engaged in antisemitic conduct through leading pro-Palestinian protests and calling for Israel’s destruction,” per reporting by the New York Post.
Mohsen Mahdawi, co-president of the Columbia Students for Justice in Palestine group, has filed a petition protesting his upcoming removal from the United States. Mahdawi has held a US Green Card for the past ten years. Before coming to the United States, Mahdawi was born and raised in a refugee camp in Judea and Samaria.
US District Court Judge William K. Sessions issued a temporary restraining order blocking Mahdawi’s removal. Mahdawi is currently being held by ICE.
Southwest News Today contacted Columbia University for a comment about Mahdawi and his arrest. Columbia University refused to respond to our request.
In a joint statement from Bernie Sanders, Peter Welch, and Becca Balint, Senators from Vermont, called the arrest of Mahdawi “immoral, inhumane and illegal” and called for his immediate release.
In the statement, the Senators said that Mahdawi was in a Vermont immigration office, completing the process for citizenship, when he was arrested.
Columbia Jewish Alumni Association said in a statement on Monday that Mahdawi “spent six years at Birzeit University, then another 10-ish at Dartmouth, Lehigh and Columbia.”
“That’s 16 years as a full-time undergraduate, and he wasn’t done—he was planning to enroll at Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs,” it stated. “Assuming he started at 18, he’s now pushing 35. By the time he wrapped up grad school, he’d be 37. That’s almost two decades in very expensive colleges. This isn’t a great education plan, but it’s an excellent green-card strategy, if you can afford it.”
“So cry for this ‘student’ if you must, but he’s clearly committed to something, and it’s probably not education,” it added.
Hannah Katz, whose children attended Columbia University until the protests, said, “I, for one, am glad he was arrested. We cannot have individuals come to this great country and then demand the destruction of its allies. Calling for the destruction of Israel is only a step away from calling for the destruction of America.”