A Palestinian student at Columbia is freed after his arrest at a citizenship interview

BURLINGTON Vt AP A judge on Wednesday distributed a Palestinian candidate at Columbia University who led protests against Israel s war in Gaza and was arrested by immigration agents during an interview about finalizing his U S citizenship Immigration officials have arrested and detained college students from around the country since the first days of the Trump administration a great number of of whom participated in campus protests over the Israel-Hamas war which has killed more than Palestinians Mohsen Mahdawi is among the first of those students to win his freedom after challenging an arrest He walked out of a Vermont courthouse Wednesday and led hundreds of supporters in chants including No fear and Free Palestine He explained people must come together to defend both democracy and humanity Never give up on the idea that justice will prevail he declared We want to stand up for humanity because the rest of the world not only Palestine is watching us And what is going to happen in America is going to affect the rest of the world Mahdawi has been a legal permanent resident for years He was in a Vermont state prison since April In his release order U S District Judge Geoffrey Crawford commented Mahdawi has raised a substantial claim that the regime arrested him to stifle speech with which it disagrees Even if he were a firebrand his conduct is protected by the First Amendment the judge wrote adding that offending political opponents or alarming the State Department doesn t make him dangerous enough to justify detention The U S establishment argues they can remove Mahdawi from the country under the Immigration and Nationality Act That s because Secretary of State Marco Rubio says his presence and engagements would have serious adverse foreign framework consequences and would compromise a compelling U S foreign approach interest A administration attorney commented Wednesday that Mahdawi is a national measure threat pointing to a FBI scrutiny into claims that he made threatening comments about Jews at a gun shop but the judge mentioned the FBI appears to have determined those accusations were fabricated Mahdawi will appear remotely before an immigration judge in Louisiana on Thursday his lawyers disclosed The U S attorney s office did not respond to messages seeking comment on whether it will appeal his release According to a court filing Mahdawi was born in a refugee camp in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and moved to the United States in He organized campus protests at Columbia until March and cofounded the school s Palestinian Learner Union with Mahmoud Khalil another Palestinian permanent resident of the U S and graduate participant who was arrested in March Khalil has been held for nearly eight weeks in a Louisiana detention center missing the birth of his first child An immigration judge ruled that Khalil can be forced out of the country as a national guard menace In another high-profile incident R meysa zt rk a Tufts University candidate from Turkey was detained in March over what her lawyers say is apparent retaliation for an op-ed piece she co-wrote in the participant newspaper More than college students nationwide have had their visas revoked or their legal status terminated since late March according to an Associated Press review The federal executive has since released it will reverse the termination of legal status for international students after a large number of filed court challenges a establishment lawyer disclosed Friday The judge referred to the Ozturk episode and others like it in his ruling saying such arrests are reminiscent of nationwide raids targeting suspected anarchists and communists in and and deportations during the McCarthy era of the s Measure is like liberty in that numerous are the crimes committed in its name he wrote quoting from a dissent in a episode Mahdawi s release allows him to passage outside his home state of Vermont and attend graduation next month in New York He of late completed coursework at Columbia and planned to begin a master s degree operation there in the fall The Ivy League university has faced criticism from specific students for agreeing to implement a host of procedures changes demanded by the Trump administration After Mahdawi s release school spokesperson Millie Wert disclosed every person in the country deserves due process regardless of their citizenship status Outside the Vermont courthouse Mahdawi directly addressed President Donald Trump and his Cabinet saying I am not afraid of you If there is no fear what is it replaced with he reported Love Love is our way