Share and Follow
NEW YORK (AP) — In a significant development, a judge has thwarted efforts by the Trump administration to deport Mohsen Mahdawi, a Palestinian graduate student renowned for organizing protests at Columbia University against Israeli policies and the conflict in Gaza.
Judge Nina Froes, whose decision was unveiled on Tuesday, dismissed the case due to a procedural error by government lawyers, who did not correctly authenticate a crucial document intended as evidence. This misstep resulted in the termination of the proceedings.
While the Trump administration retains the option to challenge the ruling, the decision represents another hurdle in the federal government’s broad campaign to remove pro-Palestinian student activists and critics of Israel from American campuses.
Just last month, another immigration judge halted attempts to deport Rümeysa Öztürk, a graduate student at Tufts University. Öztürk faced deportation over an opinion piece critical of her university’s response to the Gaza conflict.
Mahdawi, who has been a legal permanent resident in the United States for ten years, hails from a refugee camp located in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. He was taken into custody by immigration officials during a citizenship interview in April, but was released two weeks later following a federal judge’s intervention.
In the months since, the government has continued its effort to deport him, citing a memo from Secretary of State Marco Rubio arguing noncitizens can be expelled from the country if their presence may undermine U.S. foreign policy interests.
Government attorneys submitted a photocopy of the document to the immigration judge, but they failed to certify it as required under federal law, the judge wrote.
“I am grateful to the court for honoring the rule of law and holding the line against the government’s attempts to trample on due process,” Mahdawi said in a statement released by his attorneys. “This decision is an important step towards upholding what fear tried to destroy: the right to speak for peace and justice.”
Mahdawi has also mounted a separate case in federal district court arguing that he was unlawfully detained. That case remains ongoing, his lawyers said.
In an emailed statement, Tricia McLaughlin, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security, cast Mahdawi as a leader of “pro-terrorist riots” whose visa should be revoked.
“No activist judge, not this one or any other, is going to stop us from doing that,” she added.