A federal judge on Wednesday ordered the release of Mohsen Mahdawi, the Columbia University student whose arrest and detention his lawyers said was an unconstitutional retaliation against his pro-Palestinian speech. The lawful permanent U.S. resident was arrested at his citizenship interview April 14 in Vermont.
In a written ruling following a hearing, U.S. District Judge Geoffrey W. Crawford said Mahdawi’s release was in the public interest. The Obama-appointed judge said that continued detention would likely have a “chilling effect” on protected speech and that Mahdawi didn’t appear to be a flight risk or a danger to the community.
While providing relief to Mahdawi specifically, the judge’s opinion took stock of the broader moment in the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown, noting that legal residents who haven’t been charged with any crimes are being arrested and threatened with deportation for stating their views on political issues of the day. The judge likened it to the anti-communist Red Scare and McCarthyism in the last century.
Crawford conditioned the release on Mahdawi residing in Vermont and attending all further court hearings in his case unless excused from doing so. The judge said he can go to New York for educational purposes or to meet with his lawyers, or as otherwise ordered by the court.
The Trump administration had opposed his release, arguing that Mahdawi couldn’t show extraordinary circumstances and that, “While recognizing the seriousness of being detained, release must be for a reason other than the Petitioner’s convenience.” Subscribe to the Deadline: Legal Newsletter for expert analysis on the top legal stories of the week, including updates from the Supreme Court and developments in the Trump administration’s legal cases.
Jordan Rubin is the Deadline: Legal Blog writer. He was a prosecutor for the New York County District Attorney’s Office in Manhattan and is the author of “Bizarro," a book about the secret war on synthetic drugs. Before he joined MS NOW, he was a legal reporter for Bloomberg Law.
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