Anti-Israel Columbia protest leader Mohsen Mahdawi fights deportation to Jordan

Columbia University student Mohsen Mahdawi is fighting a deportation order that would send him to Jordan, his legal representatives announced Wednesday. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and other lawyers have appealed the immigration court's decision to the First Circuit US Court of Appeals and petitioned the Second Circuit, where a habeas petition is being considered.

Mahdawi, who was detained last April, faces removal for what authorities deemed undermining US foreign policy and government counter-antisemitism efforts through his pro-Palestinian activism on campus. His legal team contends that his detention and censorship are punitive and serve no legitimate purpose, arguing that the government is weaponizing immigration law to silence dissent.

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Now the administration is abusing immigration law to silence me for speaking the truth about Palestinian suffering and genocide. When a government weaponizes immigration to punish speech, millions of immigrants and citizens feel that blow. This fight belongs to all who believe in democracy and every person willing to stand together in defense of the First Amendment. I take this fight to the First Circuit with love and faith - because the First Amendment is sacred, and I refuse to be silenced.

"When a government weaponizes immigration to punish speech, millions of immigrants and citizens feel that blow," Mahdawi stated. He added, "This fight belongs to all who believe in democracy and every person willing to stand together in defense of the First Amendment. I take this fight to the First Circuit with love and faith - because the First Amendment is sacred, and I refuse to be silenced."

Deportation proceedings were reinstated against Mahdawi in early May after the US Board of Immigration Appeals overturned a February decision that had rejected the government's efforts to deport him. The initial judge had ruled that the Department of Homeland Security failed to prove he was removable. Mahdawi's attorney, Cyrus Mehta, criticized the government's appeal within the immigration court system, suggesting it was a calculated move to reverse the initial dismissal.

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The original immigration judge correctly dismissed Mohsen's immigration case before she had been fired, and the government cynically appealed the case within the Trump administration-controlled immigration court system knowing that the BIA would reverse.