The Trump administration arrested yet another Columbia University student linked to pro-Palestinian protests—this time, one who appeared on the president’s least favorite news show.
Mohsen Mahdawi, a Palestinian green card holder, went to an immigration office in his home state of Vermont on Monday to take the final step to becoming a U.S. citizen. Instead, he was arrested by Homeland Security officials, his lawyers and three Vermont lawmakers said.
Sens. Bernie Sanders and Peter Welch and Rep. Becca Balint said the agents were dressed in plain clothes and refused to provide information about where Mahdawi was being taken or what would happen to him.
“This is immoral, inhumane, and illegal,” they said in a statement. “Mr. Mahdawi, a legal resident of the United States, must be afforded due process under the law and immediately released from detention.”
In a Monday petition challenging Mahdawi’s detention, his lawyers said the Trump administration “intends to retaliate and punish individuals such as Mr. Mahdawi who advocated for ceasefire and ending the bloodshed in Gaza.”
U.S. District Judge William Sessions III swiftly issued a temporary restraining order blocking Mahdawi’s removal from Vermont and the U.S. pending further instruction from the court.
Mahdawi was born in a refugee camp in the West Bank and has been a lawful permanent resident of the U.S. for the past decade, according to his lawyers. He is set to graduate from Columbia’s philosophy program next month and plans to pursue a master’s degree in international affairs this fall.
In 2023, Mahdawi co-founded Columbia’s Palestinian Student Union with Mahmoud Khalil, another green card holder arrested by the Trump administration last month.
That same year, Mahdawi was featured in an episode of 60 Minutes—a CBS News show that Trump loves to hate.
“The fight for the freedom of Palestine and the fight against antisemitism go hand in hand, because injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere,” he said in an interview about pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia.
The president has long been vocal about his disdain for the CBS show. Over the weekend, Trump blasted 60 Minutes in two Truth Social posts after it aired segments that delved into the Ukraine war and his administration’s goal of annexing Greenland.
“I am so honored to be suing 60 Minutes, CBS Fake News, and Paramount, over their fraudulent, beyond recognition, reporting,” he wrote in one post.
Trump’s beef with 60 Minutes lies in the show’s October 2024 interview with then-Vice President Kamala Harris, which the president claimed was doctored to make her appear more favorable to voters. CBS later released the full tape and transcript, debunking those claims.
Mahdawi’s arrest is the latest development in the Trump administration’s intensifying crackdown on pro-Palestinian activists. Last week, several universities across the South reported that some of their international students had their visas revoked.
Mahdawi’s attorney Luna Droubi told The Intercept that he was “unlawfully detained today for no reason other than his Palestinian identity.”
“He came to this country hoping to be free to speak out about the atrocities he has witnessed, only to be punished for such speech,” she said.
