Mohsen Mahdawi speaks outdoors the courthouse after a decide launched the Palestinian scholar activist, on April 30, 2025 in Burlington, Vt.
| Photograph Credit score: AP
An immigration decide has blocked the Trump administration from deporting Mohsen Mahdawi, a Palestinian graduate scholar who led protests at Columbia College in opposition to Israel and the conflict in Gaza.
In a ruling made public Tuesday (February 17, 2026), the decide, Nina Froes, stated she had terminated the case due to a procedural misstep by authorities attorneys, who did not correctly certify an official doc they meant to make use of as proof.
The Trump administration could attraction the choice. However the ruling marked the newest setback for the federal authorities’s sweeping effort to expel pro-Palestinian campus activists and others who expressed criticism of Israel.
Final month, a separate immigration blocked the federal government’s try to deport a Tufts College graduate scholar, Rümeysa Öztürk, over an op-ed criticizing the varsity’s response to the conflict in Gaza.
Mr. Mahdawi, a authorized everlasting resident of the U.S. for the final decade, was born in a refugee camp within the Israeli-occupied West Financial institution. He was arrested by immigration brokers throughout a citizenship interview final April, however he was launched two weeks later by a federal decide.
Within the months since, the federal government has continued its effort to deport him, citing a memo from Secretary of State Marco Rubio arguing noncitizens will be expelled from the nation if their presence could undermine U.S. overseas coverage pursuits.
Authorities attorneys submitted a photocopy of the doc to the immigration decide, however they did not certify it as required underneath federal regulation, the decide wrote.
“I’m grateful to the courtroom for honouring the rule of regulation and holding the road in opposition to the federal government’s makes an attempt to trample on due course of,” Mr. Mahdawi stated in an announcement launched by his attorneys. “This determination is a vital step in direction of upholding what concern tried to destroy: the best to talk for peace and justice.”
Mr. Mahdawi has additionally mounted a separate case federal district courtroom arguing that he was unlawfully detained. That case stays ongoing, his legal professionals stated.
Inquiries to the Division of Homeland Safety weren’t instantly returned.
Printed – February 18, 2026 10:35 am IST