Cnn
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A Palestinian student from Columbia University who was arrested during an interview for American citizenship will remain detained in Vermont after a judge ordered his lawyers and the Ministry of Justice to provide additional information documents to the Court.
The lawyers of Mohsen Mahdawi and the Ministry of Justice presented the oral arguments on Wednesday during a hearing before the American district judge Geoffrey Crawford as a large crowd of supporters gathered before the Burlington court, at Vermont.
Mahdawi, who was born in the West Bank and helped organize demonstrations against the War of Israel-Hamas on the Columbia campus last year, is one of the students who were intended for deportation as part of the repression of immigration from the Trump administration.
He is the second Palestinian student of Columbia with a green card which was owned by the immigration authorities for withdrawal. The other is Mahmoud Khalil, a permanent American resident who was one of the main negotiators of the pro-Palestinian demonstrations in Columbia; He was arrested on March 8 and was held in a detention center in Louisiana.
Federal immigration agents have arrested Mahdawi, a legal permanent resident in the past 10 years, on April 14 during an appointment that he had previously planned to fulfill his citizenship request.
After Mahdawi took an oath of citizenship and signed documents – which are some of the last stages to become an American citizen – armed and masked officers entered the office and arrested Mahdawi in the building of American citizenship and immigration services, put it in handcuffs and chains and led it, according to legal documents and its prosecutors.
Mahdawi was not accused of a crime.
Mahdawi lawyers are looking for his release, arguing that his detention is unconstitutional and late. The government has said that Mahdawi should be expelled under the provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act, which gives the Secretary of State the General Authority to decide whether a person must be dismissed from their functions of the country.
According to court documents, the government maintains that Mahdawi’s detention is an “constitutionally valid aspect of the expulsion process”, reported the Associated Press.
The government also disputes the jurisdiction of the court, affirming that it is prohibited to take up the disputes in the manner of the expulsion.
“The district courts do not play any role in this process,” wrote Michael Drescher, the acting American lawyer in Vermont, adding that the court does not have jurisdiction in the case of Mahdawi.
In a written letter from the interior of the Correctional Center of the State of North West Vermont, Mahdawi described its arrest as an abduction put in place to take place during its naturalization interview. A copy of the letter was obtained by CNN.
“The Ministry of Internal Security has orchestrated a honey trap, offering me a long -awaited appointment for citizenship,” wrote Mahdawi.
Mahdawi lawyers wrote in court documents that immigration agents tried to withdraw the Mahdawi in Louisiana after its arrest, part of a government model to transfer prisoners of their original districts. Mahdawi, however, was prevented from being transferred after his lawyers quickly asked the court to request his release.
A judge made an order preventing his transfer through the state lines approximately three hours after his detention.
Mahdawi described it as “the flight which was supposed to steal me as thieves in the middle of the day of Burlington, in my original state of Vermont, in Louisiana.”
According to Mahdawi lawyers, Crawford could rule later this week to find out if the court competent on the issues that come from the Immigration and Nationality Act.
The judge ordered the parties to deposit additional memories in the coming days and has planned a hearing on the request by requesting the release of Mahdawi for next week, April 30.
“We intend to be back in a week to release Mohsen,” said Luna Droubi, Mahdawi lawyer after the hearing. “The government has not provided any basis, something other than admission they (have detained Mohsen) on the basis of his speech.”
In the meantime, court documents show that Mahdawi has received a comparison notice for an hearing before the Immigration Court in Louisiana on May 1.
The opinion indicates that Mahdawi is removable under the Immigration and Nationality Act because the Secretary of State has determined his presence and his activities “would have serious unfavorable consequences of foreign policy and would compromise an imperative interest in American foreign policy”.
Democratic senator Peter Welch du Vermont met Mahdawi on Monday and published a video on X of them sitting together. Mahdawi, wearing a green prison uniform, thanked Welch and said his visit reassured him.
“I remain positive by reassuring myself in the capacity of justice and the deep belief of democracy,” he said when Welch asked how he was going. “This is the reason why I wanted to become a citizen of this country because I believe in the principles of this country.
