Updated on: April 30, 2025 / 12:49 PM EDT / CBS News
Mohsen Mahdawi, a Palestinian Columbia student who had been detained by immigration authorities when he went to his U.S. citizenship interview, has been released after a federal judge's order in Vermont on Wednesday.
Mahdawi, who has a green card, was taken into custody on April 16. His immigration case remains open, and there will be another hearing on Thursday.
"Yes you might think I am free, but my freedom is interlinked with the freedom of many other students," Mahdawi said outside the courthouse in Burlington, Vermont, shortly after being released.
A judge later issued an order barring the government from removing him from the state or country.
Mahdawi's attorneys argued that the Trump administration is seeking to deport Mahdawi because he helped lead pro-Palestinian protests on Columbia University's campus in the early months of the Israel-Hamas war, in violation of his First Amendment rights.
Judge Geoffrey Crawford said Thursday that Mahdawi had "made substantial claims that his detention is the result of retaliation for protected speech."
Crawford said that this is not the first time the U.S. has seen chilling efforts by the government that are "intended to shut down debate," comparing it to the Red Scare and McCarthyism in the 1950s. He said those were times when immigration laws were used to curb speech.
Michael Drescher, the U.S. attorney for Vermont, had previously argued for Mahdawi's detention, saying in court documents that detention is a "constitutionally valid aspect of the deportation process" and district courts "play no role in the process."
The government argued that he could be detained under the Immigration and Nationality Act, saying in court documents that Mahdawi is removable because "[t]he Secretary of State has determined that your presence and activities in the United States would have serious adverse foreign policy consequences and would compromise compelling U.S. foreign policy interest."
That provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act has been cited by the State Department and Secretary of State Marco Rubio to revoke visas of students who took part in pro-Palestinian protests at universities. In March, Rubio said 300 visas had been revoked, saying "I do it every day."
"Every time I find one of these lunatics, I take away their visa," Rubio said.
The State Department has alleged the "foreign policy consequences" relate to antisemitism.
Mahdawi has pushed back against allegations of antisemitism in the Columbia protests. In an interview with CBS News a day before his arrest, Mahdawi said, "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."
He also said he took a step back from the protests before students formed encampments on Columbia's campus and took over a school building last year.
The government has used the same justification in two other high-profile cases, Mahmoud Khalil at Columbia - who, like Mahdawi, has a green card - and Tufts University student Rümeysa Öztürk. Both Khalil and Öztürk are being detained in Louisiana.
Joe Walsh contributed to this report.
Caroline Linton is an associate managing editor on the political team for CBSNews.com. She has previously written for The Daily Beast, Newsweek and amNewYork.
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