New York, US, Apr 14 (EFE). – Mohsen Mahdawi, another Columbia University student involved in the 2024 pro-Palestinian protests, was arrested Monday when he showed up for an appointment at a Vermont office to formalize his United States citizenship.
Vermont senators Bernie Sanders and Peter Welch and state representative Becca Valint denounced the arrest as “immoral, inhumane and illegal” in a t statement.
They added: “Mr. Mahdawi, a legal resident of the United States, must be afforded due process under the law and immediately released from detention.”
Mahdawi, who is of Palestinian descent, was arrested by plainclothes, armed individuals with their faces covered at an immigration office in White River Junction, Vermont, as he was completing the final steps to become a US citizen, according to the statement.
Mahdawi’s case is reminiscent of that of Mahmud Khalil, a leader of the Gaza war protests, detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in New York, who remains in custody as President Donald Trump’s istration attempts to justify deportation proceedings.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem accused Khalil on Friday of “hating the United States and what we stand for,” adding that “it is a privilege to be granted a visa or green card to live and study in the United States of America.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio has also justified these detentions, saying that foreign students are guests who have the “privilege” of US hospitality and will lose it if they engage in activities contrary to the country’s interests.
On Friday, a judge gave a green light to the possible deportation of Mahmud Khalil, although he left the door open for an appeal.
Khalil’s case has become emblematic of the protection of freedom of expression and the First Constitutional Amendment. EFE
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