This story originally appeared in Mondoweiss on Apr. 30, 2025. It is shared here with permission.
Columbia University student Mohsen Mahdawi is free on bail after a federal judge in Vermont ordered his release.
It’s the first order mandating the release of a student detained by the Trump administration. The New York Times called his release “a defeat” for the administration’s “widening crackdown against student protesters.”
“The two weeks of detention so far demonstrate great harm to a person who has been charged with no crime,” said Judge Geoffrey Crawford at an April 30 hearing. “Mr. Mahdawi, I will order you released.”
Crawford also compared Trump’s crackdown to the Red Scare and said that period of history wasn’t one that people should be proud of.
— Party for Socialism and Liberation (@pslnational) April 30, 2025
BREAKING: MOHSEN MAHDAWI IS FREE!
Mahdawi, a student leader from the pro-Palestine movement Columbia University who was detained by ICE, has officially be released!
In the 2 weeks since his unjust arrest, people across the country and world have waged a committed campaign… pic.twitter.com/r0dqj2QLy0
“For anybody who is doubting justice, this is a light of hope and faith in the justice system in America,” Mahdawi told a crowd outside the courthouse after his release. “We are witnessing the fight for justice in America, which means a true democracy, and the fight for justice for Palestinians, which means that both liberation are interconnected, because no one of us is free unless we all are.”
“I am saying it clear and loud,” he added. “To President Trump and his cabinet: I am not afraid of you.”
“Today’s victory cannot be overstated. It is a victory for Mohsen who gets to walk free today out of this court,” said Shezza Abboushi Dallal, one of Mahdawi’s lawyers. “And it is also a victory for everyone else in this country invested in the very ability to dissent, who want to be able to speak out for the causes that they feel a moral imperative to lend their voices to and want to do that without fear that they will be abducted by masked men.”
Mahdawi, a permanent U.S. resident and green card holder for the past decade, was arrested by immigration officials on April 14 during his naturalization interview to become a United States citizen.
According to a recent legal brief from Mahdawi’s attorneys, the citizenship appointment had been a trap, as ICE agents intended to ambush the Columbia student and send him to a detention facility in Louisiana, where the Trump administration is holding Mahmoud Khalil and Rumeysa Ozturk.
A judge blocked Trump from transferring Mahdawi out Vermont before agents could transport him.
A court filing submitted in the case by the Justice Department included a letter from Secretary of State Marco Rubio claiming that Mahdawi’s presence in the United States could “potentially undermine” the Middle East peace process.
Earlier this month, Vermont Senator Peter Welch (D-VT) visited Mahdawi at the ICE detention center where he was being held.
“I am centered, I am clear, I am grounded, and I don’t want you to worry about me,” Mahdawi told Welch. “I want you to continue working for the democracy of this country and for humanity. The war must stop.”
This content originally appeared on The Real News Network and was authored by Michael Arria.