NEW YORK: US immigration authorities on Monday arrested another Columbia University student who participated in pro-Palestinian campus protests, detaining him as he attended an interview to become an American citizen. Mohsen Mahdawi’s lawyers, in a court filing seeking his release and halt to any imminent deportation, also claimed President Donald Trump’s mounting crackdown on immigrant student protesters violates the US Constitution — the latest judicial challenge to the Republican administration. A Palestinian born in the occupied West Bank, Mahdawi, who has been a legal US permanent resident since 2015, was set to graduate next month and planned to attend a Columbia master’s program this fall, the court filing said.

He is the co-founder of a Palestinian student group at Columbia alongside Mahmoud Khalil, a face of the movement who Trump has also been trying to expel since his March arrest. “Mohsen Mahdawi of White River Junction, Vermont, walked into an immigration office for what was supposed to be the final step in his citizenship process. Instead, he was arrested and removed in handcuffs by plain-clothed, armed, individuals with their faces covered,” Senator Bernie Sanders said in a statement signed by other Vermont lawmakers.

A video apparently made by Mahdawi’s friends circulating online showed masked agents loading an individual into a black SUV. District Judge William Sessions issued a temporary restraining order barring authorities from deporting Mahdawi or moving him out of Vermont “pending further order” from the court, a court filing showed. The arrest of Khalil and other students associated with campus activism has triggered outrage from Trump opponents, free speech advocates and some on the political right, who say the case will have a chilling effect on freedom of expression.

Immigration officers have similarly detained and sought to deport a Tufts University student from Turkey, Rumeysa Ozturk, and Columbia student Yunseo Chung who is a US permanent resident originally from South Korea. Their deportations have also been blocked for now by courts. “Mahdawi was active on Columbia’s campus in organizing for Gaza and Palestine during the course of (the Zionist entity’s) genocide in Gaza,” the Palestinian Youth Movement said on Instagram.

“His targeting represents a continuation of the Trump administration’s campaign that began with the arrest of Mahmoud Khalil last month, and an escalation in tactics by ICE and DHS to abduct and detain students and other noncitizens who have been vocal in their opposition to (the Zionist entity)’s genocide in Gaza. “We demand the immediate and unconditional release of Mohsen Mahdawi.” — AFP