US appeals court overturns ruling requiring release of pro-Palestinian activist Mohsen Mahdawi

US appeals court overturns ruling requiring release of pro-Palestinian activist Mohsen Mahdawi

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MEE staff
on
Tue, 07/21/2026 - 18:59

The ruling says Mahdawi's case should have been handled through immigration court, in a move that could tighten restrictions on Green Card holders

Columbia University student Mohsen Mahdawi poses for a portrait inside Havemeyer Hall on the Columbia campus in New York City, on 18 May 2025 (Reuters)

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A US appeals court on Tuesday overturned a 2025 ruling that ordered the Trump administration to release Mohsen Mahdawi from immigration detention, a setback for free-speech activists and pro-Palestinian advocates.

The ruling does not order Mahdawi's re-arrest, but could set a precedent making it harder for Green Card holders to be released from detention on their claim to First Amendment rights. 

The 35-year-old, who was studying for a master's degree at Columbia's School of International and Public Affairs, was detained by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents following his participation in campus protests against Israel's genocide in Gaza.

Mahdawi, who has permanent US residency or "Green Card" status, was detained by ICE when he attended an American citizenship interview in Vermont in mid-April last year.

Vermont-based US District judge Geoffrey Crawford later ordered Mahdawi released on bond, ruling that he enjoyed the same First Amendment free speech rights as US citizens.

The Manhattan-based 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals said Crawford did not have jurisdiction over the case because it should have been resolved in immigration court. 

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Born in a Palestinian refugee camp in the occupied West Bank, Mahdawi moved to the US ten years ago.

He co-founded the Palestinian Student Union at Columbia in 2023 alongside Mahmoud Khalil, a prominent figure in the pro-Palestinian student movement who was also targeted by the US administration.

Tuesday’s decision follows a similar ruling by the US Court of Appeals earlier this year, which ruled that the judge who released Khalil, also a Green Card holder, did not have jurisdiction in his case.

Neither case made a ruling on the men’s First Amendment rights, but combined they could make it harder for non-citizens detained in immigration jails to seek their release on the basis that their incarceration violated their First Amendment rights.

Khalil filed a lawsuit in July against senior Trump administration officials, the Heritage Foundation, Betar, and Canary Mission, seeking damages for unlawful conspiracy.

The lawsuit alleges that his targeting was driven by anti-Palestinian animus and that the “private anti-Palestinian groups” coordinated with administration officials to persecute Khalil and other Palestinian rights advocates.  

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