Just one day before Mohsen Mahdawi was detained by immigration agents at what he was told was his citizenship interview, the Columbia student and Palestinian activist told CBS News he thought there was a chance the long-awaited appointment could be a trap.
“It’s the first feeling of like, I’ve been waiting for this for more than a year,” Mahdawi — a native of the Israeli-occupied West Bank who has held a green card for the last decade — told CBS News on the eve of his detention. “And the other feeling is like, wait a minute. Is this a honey trap?”
Mahdawi was taken into custody after arriving at his interview in Vermont on Monday. CBS News witnessed federal agents strapping on vests shortly after he walked into the building, emerging about an hour later with Mahdawi in handcuffs.
His attorneys say he was detained under a little-used law allowing foreign nationals to be deported if they pose “serious adverse foreign policy consequences” — making him the latest student to face detention, including fellow Columbia activist and green card holder Mahmoud Khalil. Mahdawi’s legal team has petitioned a judge to release him and alleged he is being punished for protected speech, in violation of the First Amendment and his right to due process.
Shortly after Mahdawi’s detention, federal Judge William Sessions ordered the Trump administration not to deport him or move him out of the state of Vermont while Sessions reviews the case, granting a request from Mahdawi’s attorneys.
The Department of Homeland Security referred a request for comment to the State Department, which declined to comment.
Mahdawi — who says he was set to receive his bachelor’s degree in philosophy in May — co-founded Columbia’s Palestinian Student Union in 2023 along with Khalil. Mahdawi was later active in protests on Columbia’s campus against Israel’s war in Gaza, which began after Hamas’ terrorist attack launched from the Gaza Strip on Oct. 7, 2023. His attorneys said in a court filing that Mahdawi “took a step back” from organizing the protests in March 2024, before the protests escalated later that spring, with demonstrators forming encampments and occupying a campus building.
The nationwide wave of pro-Palestinian campus protests was a political lightning rod, with critics arguing the demonstrations — and their leaders — were disruptive and featured antisemitic rhetoric. Columbia is one of several schools to face a freeze in federal funding by the Trump administration, which alleges the Ivy League school “failed to protect students and faculty from antisemitic violence and harassment.”
Mahdawi told CBS News last weekend he faced “threats” and “intimidation” after speaking about the protests in a late 2023 “60 Minutes” interview. Shortly after President Trump took office, he also drew the attention of Betar USA, a controversial pro-Israel group that tweeted in January that Mahdawi was on its “deport list.”
The group’s former Executive Director Ross Glick told CBS News that Betar USA has collected information on thousands of pro-Palestinian activists and passed it on to the Trump administration. He said it’s up to the government to decide whether somebody actually supports Hamas: “Once information is handed off, we’re out of the process, right? It’s ultimately up to the government, the various officials.”
Mahdawi pushed back on Betar’s criticism, saying groups like Betar “manipulate information, create lies, and attach them to the profiles of those either students or activists.” Mahdawi has vehemently denied claims of antisemitism more generally, calling them a “false accusation.”
He also told CBS News over the weekend that if he’s detained by federal agents, “I want people to know that my compassion extended beyond the Palestinian people. My compassion is also for the Jewish people and for the Israelis as well.”
After Khalil was detained outside his Columbia-owned apartment last month, Mahdawi feared he could be ensnared next. Khalil is currently held in Louisiana, and his legal future is uncertain: An immigration judge ruled last week the Trump administration can move forward with deportation but gave his lawyers until late April to file applications for relief. His lawyers have indicated they will appeal the ruling, and they are separately suing the government for his release.
Mahdawi told CBS News he began taking precautions for his own safety, including avoiding public spaces, after Khalil’s detention. Still, when he received word of a citizenship appointment, he chose to attend — though he suspected it may lead to his detention.
“It’s an irony. The irony of destiny. And I accept the outcome,” Mahdawi said a day beforehand. “If my story will become another story for the struggle to have justice and democracy in this country, let it be.”
Lilia Luciano is an award-winning journalist and CBS News 24/7 anchor and correspondent based in New York City. Luciano is the recipient of multiple journalism awards, including a Walter Cronkite Award, a regional Edward R. Murrow Award and five regional Emmys.
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