Colombia student knew his arrest in a USCis interview that he would come

Mohsen Mahdawi had a feeling that the date of his naturalization would deviate. A week before his meeting with US Citizenship and Immigration services (USCIS), Mahdawi called his friend Chris Heilali and told him that he was concerned. “He thought it was likely – and it agreed – that it would be arrested, and that they would believe in it in this interview,” says Hilali. Drilling. Mahdawi was very afraid of his detention by enforcing migration and customs (ICE) to the extent that he had It is said He was hiding for weeks. But Mahdi could not miss the appointment. According to USCIS, “failure to appear in a scheduled interview” always “results from the denial of” a person’s application.

The interview was scheduled at 11 am on April 14. Hillali waited outside the building. “We started to realize that something was wrong,” says Heilali. At about the back, the group was said to be tied to Mahdawi. Three minutes later, it was taken from the building by two officers of the Ministry of Internal Security. Hilali seized the arrest, I mentioned for the first time objectionOn the video.

It is unusual – and if no one hears – that migrants be arrested during USCis interviews. “They always have previous migration or criminal history, which makes them deported,” says Matt Cameron, a Boston’s immigration lawyer. Mahdawi’s lawyers say he has no criminal record and he is a “committed Buddhist” “who believes violently and sympathy as a major principle in his religion.” It does not seem to violate the immigration law. But Mahdawi, who was born in the West Bank, participated in it Student protests at Colombia University Against the continuous Israel war in Gaza. He knew about the Trump administration Efforts to deport any non -citizenship -Even those who have green cards and visas-for their participation in the activity of the event under the auspices of a Immigration Law in the Makarthy era.

“He knew he was a target,” says Heilali. For him, the arrest was “horrific” – not because it was not expected, but because it made him feel as if “the rule of the law that we are talking about is not stable and not essential as we might think.” What was more striking, though, was how a calm -Mahdawi appeared. “Mohsen is a sedative,” says Hilali. “He went like Buddhi: peacefully, quietly, and hugely.”

In the Hilali video, Mahdi appears calm and leaving the USCis building surrounded by agents of the ICE internal security investigation department. Mahdawi threw hands, gave two brands to the camera, but he did not say a word because the agents put it in an unique car and set out. Unlike other videos of ice arrests, in which the targets appear confused or afraid after they were approached by Solomon’s officers who tell them that they are in arrest, they are Mahdi immediately what was happening to him. He knew that he was a possibility before he entered.

in You have a body Seam Shortly after the arrest of Maudi, his lawyers wrote that 10 days after Trump’s inauguration, the right -wing extremist group and Zionist lasat Betar Us posted about Maahdawi on X, saying that he was “on our deportation list.” In a publication in March, Canary Mission, another right -wing group, said that Mahdi was “justifying terrorism Hamas.”

Betar and Canary Mission claimed that they present lists of foreign students participating in the anti -Israel call to the Trump administration, which created opposition to Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians with great anti -Semitism. Canary mission Add The “Detection of Foreign Citizens” page to its website in late March, which determines foreign students that the group wants Trump to deport it. In the same month, Betar And according to what was stated He had a “reason for belief” that Mahdi and the Palestinian poet Musab Abu Tawha “” in the short list of those who would be deported soon. “

Other student news arrested by ICE – including a graduate student in Colombia Mahmoud Khalil PhD candidate Tats Truth Oztuk – Mahdi’s lawyers gave time to prepare for his potential fear. Lawyers a Ownership A petition after a few hours of arrest, not only was asked to release Mahdawi on the bonds, but it has not been removed from the country or From the state of Fairmont.

Khalil and Ozturk have been transferred to ICE detention facilities in Louisiana, where they remain imprisoned away from their lawyers and families – and in the friendly judicial states of the Trump administration. On Monday, a Fairmont judge issued A temporary restriction order Dhs was prevented from deporting Al -Mahdawi at the present time. It is also prohibited from removing it from Vermont.

Like others who were arrested by ICE because of their pro -Palestine activity, Mahdawi is likely to be targeted for data that will have no legal implications if he is an American citizen. According to the “Executive Order of TROMP 14188-Additional measures to combat anti-Semitism, government departments ordered to reach” anti-Semitism on the campus. “For the Ministry of National Security, this means arresting students participating in pro-events activity.

In the Ministry of Foreign Affairs It was obtained by New York TimesForeign Minister Marco Rubio, without evidence, claimed that Mahdi “participated in the threat of the speech and the intimidation of passers -by supporters of Israelis.” Mahdawi’s lawyers denied Rubio’s confirmation.

Mahdawi is still being held now. The defenders call for his release, indicating that he spoke against all the anti -Semitism and Israel’s treatment of the Palestinian Ownership Seam. “Mr. Mahdi was always ready to engage in a dialogue with people whose views and beliefs differ from himself.” objection Reports that in December 2023, Mahdawi got coffee with Davidai tea, a Colombia professor and voice supporter of Israel, who is now continuing with his arrest.

Almost at the same time, he got coffee with Daviday, Mahdawi began meeting with a group of Israeli students in Colombia.

“His sympathy blew me far away,” Ronnie Zeef, one of the Israeli students who attended the meetings, He said Haritz. “Especially in the United States, where people often take a” natural control “position on the left-he didn’t do it. The fact that I served in the army was not deals for him. This is rare.

Helali Mahmoudi describes as “bridge brown”. He says: “(Mahdawi) revolves around reconciliation.”