Palestinian Columbia University protester Mohsen Mahdawi allowed to graduate after being freed from ICE custody
Freed Columbia University protester Mohsen Mahdawi was allowed to stride across the graduation stage Monday — just three weeks after being cut loose from an immigration jail.
3 Palestinian Columbia University student Mohsen Mahdawi walks during the school's graduation ceremony at the School of General Studies in New York City on Monday, May 19, 2025.
Anadolu via Getty Images
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The 34-year-old, who was draped in a keffiyeh, paused in the middle of the stage as he listened to some of his fellow grads cheer him on.
Mahdawi, a legal permanent resident for 10 years, was nabbed by the feds in Vermont on April 14 during an interview about finalizing his US citizenship.
The Trump administration had accused Mahdawi of engaging in 'threatening rhetoric and intimidation' against Jewish students during Columbia's anti-Israel protests.
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He ended up being released by a judge two weeks later — and used his graduation to attack the current administration.
3 Mohsen Mahdawi (L) and Mahmoud Khalil participate in a pro-Palestinian protest at Columbia University, Thursday, Oct. 12, 2023, in New York.
AP
3 Mahdawi (L) graduated on Monday just three weeks after being cut loose from an immigration jail.
Anadolu via Getty Images
'The Trump administration wanted to rob me of this opportunity. They wanted me to be in a prison, in prison clothes, to not have education and to not have joy or celebration,' a defiant Mahdawi said.
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'It's very mixed emotions.'
While the feds haven't accused Mahdawi of committing a crime, they've argued that he and other rabble-rousing students should be deported for beliefs that may undermine US foreign policy.
With Post wires
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