The US Board of Immigration Appeals has reinstated deportation proceedings against pro-Palestinian student Mohsen Mahdawi, according to a court filing.
A US immigration judge in February had rejected efforts by the Trump administration to deport the Columbia University student, who was arrested last year following his participation in protests.
The Board of Immigration Appeals overturned the judge’s decision.
The Trump administration alleges activists like Mahdawi are antisemitic and threaten US foreign policy, while Mahdawi said in a statement: "The government continues to weaponise the immigration system to silence dissent."
Mahdawi, raised in a refugee camp in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, was arrested in April 2025 during an interview for his US citizenship petition.
He was released after two weeks and was never charged with a crime.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) says the government cannot deport him for the moment as his arrest is still being challenged in federal court.
Mahdawi began studying computer science in the West Bank over a decade ago before moving to the United States in 2014.
According to The New York Times, he later settled in rural Vermont with his wife, where he built close ties to the local community as a way of coping with the trauma of war before the couple divorced.
He went on to travel across the US, delivering more than 100 talks to community groups, synagogues, and college students about life as a displaced Palestinian, advocating that all children deserve peace.
