US reinstates deportation proceedings against Mohsen Mahdawi

Palestinian student Mohsen Mahdawi accuses government of weaponising the immigration system to silence his advocacy for Palestinian rights.

The United States Board of Immigration Appeals has reinstated ⁠deportation proceedings against Palestinian student Mohsen Mahdawi, according to a court filing from his lawyers.

Immigration judge Nina Froes in February had blocked the Trump administration’s efforts to deport the Columbia University student, who ⁠was arrested last year following his participation in pro-Palestinian protests.

Froes ruled that the Trump administration had failed to meet the burden of proof and dismissed its evidence as inadmissible. Last month, Froes was fired by the Trump administration.

The Board of Immigration Appeals, part of the Department of Justice’s Executive Office for Immigration Review, overturned Froes’s decision.

In a statement cited by the Reuters news agency on Wednesday, Mahdawi accused the Trump administration of weaponising the immigration system to silence his advocacy for Palestinian rights.

“The government is trying to punish and deport me, a stateless Palestinian refugee from the occupied West Bank, because it opposes my peaceful advocacy for human dignity and equal rights for Palestinians. But I remain unafraid and faithful that justice will prevail in America and in Palestine,” he said, in the statement shared by his legal team.

Mahdawi was arrested last year during an interview with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). He was detained for two weeks and not charged with a crime. His legal team said he was arrested under an obscure legal provision that allows Secretary of State Marco Rubio to seek the deportation of individuals deemed to pose “adverse foreign policy consequences” for the US.

Trump has cracked down on ⁠pro-Palestinian movements by attempting to deport foreign protesters, threatening to freeze funds for universities where protests were held and scrutinising immigrants’ online speech.

Experts and activists have accused his administration of stifling free speech ⁠and academic freedom. The crackdown also faced legal and judicial roadblocks.

In March, the Trump administration filed a lawsuit against Harvard University worth billions of dollars after accusing the institution of violating the civil rights of Jewish and Israeli students in the aftermath of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza.