\n<\/p>\n
Mohsen Mahdawi, a<\/span> Columbia University student arrested by the Trump administration during his citizenship interview<\/a>, was released on bail on Wednesday in a notable victory for students fighting the government\u2019s use of immigration enforcement as a means to silence dissent<\/a>.<\/p>\n After Mahdawi\u2019s 14 days in immigration detention, Vermont District Judge Geoffrey Crawford ordered<\/a> the immediate release of the pro-Palestine activist, arguing in part that his continued detention would \u201clikely have a chilling effect on protected speech.\u201d<\/p>\n The judge also noted that Mahdawi, 34, is not a \u201cflight risk\u201d or a \u201cdanger to the community.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Mahdawi\u2019s legal fight is far from over. The U.S. permanent resident, who was born in the West Bank, will have to return to court to argue his habeas petition to block the government from detaining and deporting him.<\/p>\n But on Wednesday, Mahdawi struck a defiant tone. \u201cI am saying it clear and loud. To President Trump and his Cabinet: I am not afraid of you,\u201d said Mahdawi from the outside Vermont courthouse.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat we are witnessing now and what we\u2019re understanding is exactly what Dr. Martin Luther King has said before: Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n Mahdawi, a pacifist who stepped back from his activist work to focus on building bridges between Jewish and Israeli students and the Palestinian movement<\/a> on campus, also shared a message of unity and joint struggle. \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWhat we are witnessing now and what we\u2019re understanding is exactly what Dr. Martin Luther King has said before: Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n On April 14, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers arrested Mahdawi at his scheduled naturalization interview. Mahdawi had previously been in hiding after ICE arrested his friend and fellow Columbia University activist Mahmoud Khalil<\/a>, fearing similar retaliation. His attorneys argued that the interview was effectively a \u201ctrap<\/a>.\u201d The government is now trying to deport him back to the West Bank, where he fears repression.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s kind of a death sentence,\u201d Mahdawi previously told The Intercept<\/a>. \u201cBecause my people are being killed unjustly in an indiscriminate way.\u201d<\/p>\n While his legal battle is ongoing, the decision marks a clear victory for the international students at the center of the Trump administration\u2019s crackdown on pro-Palestinian organizers. \u201cWe are hopeful that it will build momentum for the release of Mahmoud [Khalil], Rumeysa [\u00d6zt\u00fcrk], Dr. Bader Khan Suri, and other students and scholars detained for their speech in support of Palestinian rights,\u201d Noor Zafar, a senior staff attorney with the ACLU Immigrants\u2019 Rights Project and a member of Khalil\u2019s legal team, wrote to The Intercept.<\/p>\n On Tuesday, a judge issued a key ruling in favor of Khalil, a Syrian-born U.S. permanent resident. The court ordered that Khalil\u2019s attorneys can argue in federal court that he was detained and targeted for expressing his political views.<\/p>\n Despite these victories, both Khalil and \u00d6zt\u00fcrk, a Tufts University graduate student who had her visa revoked and was kidnapped off the street by ICE agents for writing an op-ed <\/a>critical of Israel, remain detained in Louisiana<\/a>. On Monday, an appeals court paused an earlier court order transferring \u00d6zt\u00fcrk to Vermont. Her lawyers argued that could mean she remains in the Louisiana detention facility, notably without access to proper medical care, for months<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n\n