Judge orders Columbia student Mohsen Mahdawi to be released
Source: NBC News
April 30, 2025, 10:45 AM EDT / Updated April 30, 2025, 11:05 AM EDT
A judge on Wednesday ordered that Columbia University student Mohsen Mahdawi be released from federal immigration custody. Mahdawi, a 34-year-old U.S. permanent resident who was born and raised in a refugee camp in the West Bank, was detained April 14 by armed DHS agents in Vermont during his naturalization interview.
"I am saying it clear and loud to President Trump and his Cabinet: I am not afraid of you," Mahdawi said outside the Vermont courtroom. "What we are witnessing now and what were understanding is exactly what Dr. Martin Luther King has said before: Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere," he added.
The Justice Department and the Department of Homeland Security did not immediately return requests for comment.
Mahdawi has been held at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility, the Northwest State Correctional Facility, in St. Albans, Vermont, since his arrest.
Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/judge-orders-columbia-student-mohsen-mahdawi-released-rcna203675

Tadpole Raisin
(1,789 posts)But knowing they dont care about the law or rights my next thought is What are they REALLY up to?!
Hekate
(97,455 posts)Scrivener7
(55,539 posts)LittleGirl
(8,670 posts)if someone shows up for their immigration interview and instead gets arrested, isn't that entrapment?
I've seen a form that was sent to people waiting for their immigration hearing or interview that they need to fill out this form. Then they get scheduled a meeting and get arrested.
Sounds like entrapment to me. What are the charges for their arrest? What exactly did they do that means they deserve to be arrested? Breathe? Show up?
onenote
(45,179 posts)Entrapment is defense that can be raised by a defendant in a criminal proceeding alleging that the government has induced a person to commit a crime that the person would have otherwise not committed. It is not a defense to ploys used by the authorities to catch someone who they believe already has committed a crime -- in this instance, entering the country illegally or otherwise having a removal order against them.
MadameButterfly
(2,912 posts)If they follow the law and show up for their interview, they are arrested. Anyone trying to become a citizen legally gets arrested. Anyone already legal following procedure gets arrested.
People become afraid to follow the law, then they can be arrested for not doing so. Damned if they do, damned if they don't.
This never had anything to do with illegal immigration, much less rapists and murders. This is about anything to get MAGA support since there is no real issue or real help being offered.
TommyT139
(1,317 posts)This is wonderful news -- and clearly influenced by him having a wide circle of friends who knew in advance to come support him. Justice should not depend on a factor like that.
DENVERPOPS
(11,966 posts)my analogy of the Trump Cabal, is like if you turned a bunch of moneys loose in a closed room, with a basket of hand grenades....
MadameButterfly
(2,912 posts)Money, or Monkeys?
DENVERPOPS
(11,966 posts)old, arthritic hands and fingers.....usually try to proof read, that auto correct? BS, is driving me crazy.....