Appeals court overturns Mohsen Mahdawi release order
A federal appeals court on Tuesday overturned a Vermont judge’s April 2025 order releasing Mohsen Mahdawi from ICE detention. The 2nd Circuit said the district court lacked jurisdiction over his challenge and ordered the lawsuit dismissed, requiring his claims to proceed first through immigration court rather than federal district court.
The ruling is a major jurisdictional win for the Trump administration’s effort to remove foreign students over Middle East activism, and it lands squarely in the kind of high-stakes legal drama tracked in Bizarre News & Florida Man.
Key Takeaways
- The 2nd Circuit vacated the Vermont release order for Mohsen Mahdawi and directed dismissal of his district-court lawsuit.
- Judges said federal law barred early court review; immigration proceedings must come first.
- Mahdawi, a Palestinian green-card holder and Columbia graduate, was arrested at a Vermont citizenship interview in April 2025.
- He already has a removal order to Jordan and is appealing to the 1st Circuit.
- Mahdawi called the decision a “grave setback”; DHS praised the ruling.
Why did the appeals court reverse Mohsen Mahdawi’s release?
According to The Hill, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit held that federal law barred courts from intervening so soon in Mahdawi’s detention challenge.
Circuit Judge Debra Ann Livingston wrote for the panel that the district court “should not have reached” the First Amendment question. Gothamist reported the New York-based court found the Vermont judge lacked jurisdiction and that the dispute should have been handled in immigration court.
Livingston was joined by Judges William Nardini and Steven Menashi. The Hill noted a similar January ruling from the 3rd Circuit in the case of Mahmoud Khalil, another Palestinian student at Columbia University.
How was Mohsen Mahdawi arrested, and why does it matter?
Mahdawi, 35, is a Palestinian-born lawful permanent resident who lived in Vermont. ICE arrested him during what he believed was a naturalization interview; plainclothes officers handcuffed him, and the episode went viral.
Last year, the district judge found the administration was likely targeting him for protected speech about the Israel-Hamas war. Trump officials have argued his pro-Palestinian activism could undermine Middle East peacemaking; supporters say he was singled out for First Amendment activity.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio designated him as someone whose presence could have “potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences,” a finding that can make a noncitizen removable. The Justice Department has also cited alleged 2015 gun-shop remarks and a 2019 border stop involving drugs; Mahdawi denies those claims, and the drug record was expunged after a diversion program.
What happens next for Mohsen Mahdawi?
The appeals panel said he can seek review once the immigration system issues a final removal order. That has already occurred: with a removal order to Jordan, Mahdawi is pressing an appeal in the 1st Circuit that remains pending.
ACLU lawyers warned that, without interim court review, he may lack a remedy to stop further detention. In a statement, Mahdawi said the decision was a “grave setback” for constitutional freedom but added he is “confident justice will ultimately prevail.”
A DHS spokesperson called vacating the release order “a win for public safety and the rule of law,” alleging advocacy for violence and support for terrorists—claims Mahdawi and his lawyers reject as an attempt to punish protected speech.