US lawmaker urges release of Palestinian student leader

WASHINGTON

US congresswoman Rashida Tlaib demanded the release of a Palestinian student from Columbia University who was arrested Monday during a citizenship interview.

"DHS (Department of Homeland Security) has kidnapped another Palestinian legal permanent resident, solely for his noble activism against the genocide. They targeted him at his appointment to finally become a US citizen,” she said.

Her remarks came after Mohsen K. Mahdawi, a legal permanent resident and former leader of the campus protest movement, was taken into custody at the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) office in the state of Vermont.

"This cruelty must end. Free Mohsen now!" Tlaib wrote on X, alongside a video from the moments Mahdawi was arrested.

Mahdawi is the ninth Columbia University student facing deportation as part of a campaign to remove international students involved in Palestinian solidarity movements.

It is part of a slew of executive actions by President Donald Trump to deport foreign nationals deemed to have "hostile attitudes" toward the US, including a crackdown on what he called antisemitism, which resulted in the deportation of foreign students who participated in pro-Palestinian campus protests.