Columbia Pro-Hamas Organizer Nabbed by ICE During U.S. Citizenship Appointment Amid Crackdown on Extremist Campus Activism

By: Fern Sidman

In a striking development highlighting the Trump administration’s growing effort to confront radicalism on U.S. campuses, Mohsen Mahdawi, a Palestinian student and co-founder of Columbia University’s Palestinian Student Union, was detained Monday by immigration authorities at a U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) facility in Colchester, Vermont, according to a report that appeared on Monday on CNN.

Mahdawi, who has lived in the United States for over a decade, arrived expecting to complete the final steps of his citizenship process. Instead, he was taken into custody — a move that CNN reported is part of a broader campaign targeting foreign nationals involved in organizing or promoting extremist, pro-Hamas activity in the U.S.

As the CNN report confirmed, Mahdawi played a prominent role in coordinating pro-Hamas protests at Columbia University, where anti-Israel demonstrations intensified following the brutal October 7, 2023, Hamas-led terror attacks on Israel. Those attacks — involving the murder, rape, and kidnapping of civilians — were widely condemned by democracies around the world. Yet on American campuses, activists such as Mahdawi sought to justify or downplay those atrocities under the guise of “resistance.”

Hamas is a U.S.-designated terrorist organization, known for targeting Israeli civilians and using its own people as human shields. Despite this, Mahdawi and his co-organizers routinely advanced narratives sympathetic to Hamas, fomenting campus unrest and inflaming antisemitic tensions.

As detailed by CNN, Mahdawi’s detention is viewed as part of the Trump administration’s zero-tolerance approach toward foreign nationals who abuse their residency or student status to promote organizations or ideologies tied to terrorism. A source familiar with the case said Mahdawi was one of several individuals placed under scrutiny after campus protests were linked to Hamas-aligned messaging and calls for “intifada” — violent uprising.

Legal counsel for Mahdawi, including attorney Luna Droubi, argued in a statement to CNN that his detention was retaliatory and rooted in “his identity as a Palestinian.” However, that framing ignores the critical distinction between lawful protest and advocacy for a genocidal terror group, something the U.S. government has increasingly prioritized in light of escalating antisemitic violence.

A temporary restraining order was issued by Vermont District Court Judge William Sessions, preventing Mahdawi’s removal from the U.S. or from Vermont — for now. His attorneys have filed a habeas corpus petition seeking his release on bail, pending further review. According to CNN, Mahdawi remains in Vermont as of this writing, and one of his lawyers has spoken to him directly.

Mahdawi’s legal team claimed he disengaged from activism in March 2024, just before encampments and building takeovers at Columbia intensified. However, his prior record as a key pro-Hamas organizer, as verified by CNN, has kept him under government scrutiny. His application for U.S. citizenship was submitted earlier this year — a process that is not guaranteed for any non-citizen and is subject to revocation in cases involving national security concerns.

The Department of Homeland Security and the State Department have declined to comment on the specifics of Mahdawi’s case. However, CNN reported that law enforcement sources suggest that more arrests could follow as investigations into foreign nationals associated with pro-terror movements on U.S. campuses continue.

According to CNN, Mahdawi is part of a growing list of non-citizen students—many on green cards or visas—who have been detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in recent weeks as the Trump administration intensifies its response to pro-Hamas protests that erupted on college campuses in 2024. These protests, which have drawn heavy public criticism for their open glorification of Hamas, a U.S.-designated terrorist organization, have triggered significant federal concern about ideological radicalization in American academic institutions.

The government is relying on the foreign policy clause of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, which allows the Secretary of State to revoke green cards or visas of individuals deemed a threat to American foreign policy, as per the information provided in the CNN report.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio recently stated that foreign nationals engaging in activities that promote antisemitism or threaten U.S. diplomatic principles would face visa revocations. “If they’re taking activities that are counter to our national interest, to our foreign policy, we’ll revoke the visa,” Rubio said, as cited by CNN.

This principle was recently applied to Mahmoud Khalil, Mahdawi’s co-founder of Columbia’s Palestinian Student Union, who was also detained in March and ruled subject to removal by a Louisiana immigration judge last Friday. The judge agreed with the administration’s assessment that Khalil’s actions endangered U.S. foreign policy, though an appeal has put his deportation temporarily on hold.

As confirmed by CNN, Mahdawi was not just a bystander in Columbia’s protests — he was a central figure in organizing rallies that coincided with a rise in antisemitic incidents across campuses. While he stepped back from public organizing in March 2024, his previous involvement and rhetoric remain under investigation. In a 2023 interview with CBS’s “60 Minutes,” Mahdawi portrayed himself as a victim, but also equated the Palestinian cause with the fight against antisemitism — a disingenuous framing that critics argue whitewashes his support for a violent, genocidal terrorist group.

Vermont’s congressional delegation — including Senators Bernie Sanders and Peter Welch and Representative Becca Balint — issued a joint statement condemning Mahdawi’s detention as “immoral, inhumane, and illegal.” However, critics argue that the real immorality lies in allowing individuals sympathetic to violent anti-Israel movements to remain in the country under the pretense of academic or humanitarian engagement.

Columbia University, where Mahdawi remains enrolled, declined to comment, citing privacy restrictions, according to CNN.

The detention of Mohsen Mahdawi is not about silencing dissent — it is about defending the integrity of American values and protecting Jewish students from those who seek to glorify terror under the guise of activism. Mahdawi is not a neutral academic figure, but a man who helped build and lead a movement that sympathized with Hamas, a group whose charter calls for the annihilation of Israel and the global spread of jihad.

The Trump administration’s response may be firm, but it is grounded in the legitimate authority to protect U.S. foreign policy interests and ensure that permanent residency is not a shield for anti-American extremism. As Mahdawi’s case proceeds, it serves as a warning: those who advocate for terrorist organizations have no place in the United States, especially on our college campuses.