An immigration judge has blocked the Trump administration from deporting Mohsen Mahdawi, a Columbia University graduate and green card holder who was detained last April at what he thought was a citizenship interview. Mahdawi grew up in a refugee camp in the occupied West Bank and was an outspoken critic of Israel’s genocide in Gaza while attending Columbia. He spent two weeks in ICE custody before a federal judge ordered his release. Mahdawi’s case is part of a broader pattern of the Trump administration targeting international students for expressing solidarity with Palestinians and demanding divestment from the Israeli government.

Mahdawi says even though immigration judges are part of the executive branch, the Trump administration clearly “violated the rules of law” in targeting him. “The harder they come on me, the more energy and power I will have, and I will continue to work for the freedom of the Palestinian people and the right of return and equal rights and human rights for Palestinians.”

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