WASHINGTON, May 6 (Reuters) – The U.S. Board of Immigration Appeals has reinstated deportation proceedings \u200cagainst pro-Palestinian student Mohsen Mahdawi, according to a court filing from his lawyers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A U.S. immigration judge in February had rejected efforts by President Donald Trump’s administration to deport the Columbia University student, who was arrested last year following his \u200bparticipation in pro-Palestinian protests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nina Froes, the Chelmsford, Massachusetts-based immigration judge who blocked the Trump \u200badministration’s efforts to deport Mahdawi, was fired last month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Board of Immigration Appeals, part \u2060of the Department of Justice’s Executive Office for Immigration Review, overturned Froes’ decision. Trump alleges activists \u200blike Mahdawi are antisemitic, support extremism and threaten U.S. foreign policy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Activists, including some Jewish groups, say \u200bthe government conflates criticism of Israel’s assault on Gaza and its occupation of Palestinian territories with antisemitism, and advocacy for Palestinian rights with support for extremism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“The government continues to weaponize the immigration system to silence dissent,” Mahdawi said \u200bin a statement shared by his legal team on Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mahdawi, born and raised in a \u200brefugee camp in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, was arrested in April 2025 upon arriving for an interview for \u200chis U.S. \u2060citizenship petition. He was released after two weeks in detention following a judge’s order and was never charged with a crime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The American Civil Liberties Union, which represented Mahdawi, says the government cannot deport him for the moment as his arrest was still being challenged in federal court.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Trump \u200bhas cracked down on \u200bpro-Palestinian movements by attempting \u2060to deport foreign protesters, threatening to freeze funds for universities where protests were held and scrutinizing immigrants’ online speech. The crackdown has led to free speech, due process \u200band academic freedom concerns from rights experts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
U.S. colleges have seen campus movements \u200bagainst Israel’s war \u2060in Gaza since late 2023. Demonstrations peaked in 2024. While the intensity of the movements has declined since then, there have been occasional flashes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Over the weekend, University of Michigan professor Derek Peterson praised \u2060pro-Palestinian \u200bprotesters in a spring commencement program, prompting the university to \u200bissue an apology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Wednesday, Rutgers University said it withdrew an invitation to pro-Palestinian business leader Rami Elghandour, a critic of \u200bIsrael, for a graduation speech next week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n