US senator demands release of Palestinian student leader

By Diyar Guldogan

WASHINGTON (AA) - US Sen. Peter Welch demanded the release of a Palestinian student from Columbia University who was arrested last week during a citizenship interview.

"I just met with Mohsen Mahdawi where he’s being held in Vermont. He was detained when he showed up for his citizenship interview.

"He should be released so he can become a citizen," Welch said Monday on X.

Mahdawi, a legal permanent resident and former student protest organizer at Columbia, was taken into custody at the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) office in the state of Vermont.

He is the ninth student from the school who is 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.