Palestinian Columbia student released after US court rules against his deportation

US immigration authorities on Wednesday released detained Palestinian Columbia University student Mohsen Mahdawi following a judge’s order, CBS News reported.

Mahdawi, born and raised in a refugee camp in the West Bank, was arrested earlier this month upon arriving for an interview for his US citizenship petition. A judge swiftly ordered President Donald Trump’s administration not to deport him from the US or take him out of the state of Vermont.

Mahdawi plans to return for a master’s degree in the fall of 2025, according to his lawyers.

His circumstances are similar to those of Palestinian student activist Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia student who was detained in the New York area on March 8 and taken to a Louisiana detention facility for deportation. Khalil is still detained.