Latest news with #VermontImmigrationLegalDefenseFund
CNN
09-05-2025
- Politics
- CNN
Released Palestinian student helps launch immigrant legal aid initiative in Vermont
Immigration The Middle East Israel-Hamas war Student lifeFacebookTweetLink Follow A Palestinian student arrested during an interview about finalizing his U.S. citizenship helped launch a $1 million fundraising campaign to strengthen the legal safety net for immigrants in Vermont on Thursday, a week after a federal judge freed him from custody. Mohsen Mahdawi, 34, who led protests against Israel's war in Gaza at Columbia University, spent 16 days in a state prison before a judge ordered him released on April 30. The Trump administration has said Mahdawi should be deported because his activism threatens its foreign policy goals, but the judge ruled that he has raised a 'substantial claim' that the government arrested him to stifle speech with which it disagrees. Immigration authorities have detained college students from around the country since the first days of the Trump administration. Many of them participated in campus protests over the Israel-Hamas war. Mahdawi was among the first to win his freedom after challenging his arrest. 'This is a message of hope and light, that our humanity is much larger than what divides us. Our humanity is much larger than unjust laws,' he said at a Statehouse news conference. 'And this is also a message to the rest of the world. It starts from Vermont.' Mahdawi joined Vermont State Treasurer Mike Pieciak, Senate Majority Leader Kesha Ram Hinsdale and community advocates to announce the Vermont Immigration Legal Defense Fund. The group, which also includes lawyers and philanthropists, says the fund will be used to expand the legal team at the Vermont Asylum Assistance Project, train pro bono attorneys and partner with community groups to support those facing deportation, detention and family separation. 'I am here with a large and diverse group of Vermonters to say: We protect and take care of our people, regardless of their national origin, regardless of their immigration status, regardless of the language they speak,' Ram Hinsdale said. 'We take care of our own against any and all threats.' Members of Vermont's congressional delegation have spoken up on Mahdawi's behalf, as have state politicians. Vermont's House and Senate passed resolutions condemning the circumstances of his detention and advocating for his release and due process rights. Republican Gov. Phil Scott has said there is no justification for the manner in which Mahdawi was arrested, at an immigration office in Colchester. 'Law enforcement officers in this country should not operate in the shadows or hide behind masks,' the governor said the next day. 'The power of the executive branch of the federal government is immense, but it is not infinite, and it is not absolute.' Mahdawi, a legal permanent resident, was born in a refugee camp in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and moved to the United States in 2014. At Columbia, he organized campus protests and co-founded the Palestinian Student Union with Mahmoud Khalil, another Palestinian permanent resident of the U.S. and graduate student who was arrested in March. His release, which is being challenged by the government, allows him to travel outside of his home state of Vermont and attend his graduation from Columbia in New York later this month. On Thursday, he described sharing a prison cell with a farmer from Mexico who prayed every night. 'I think his prayers have been answered today by this initiative,' he said. 'This is what I call love and care. This is what I call humanity and justice. This is what I call the teachings of Jesus, who would feed the hungry, who would shelter the homeless and who would provide support to illegal immigrants.'
Al Jazeera
08-05-2025
- Politics
- Al Jazeera
Student protester Mohsen Mahdawi unveils legal defence fund for immigrants
Student protest leader Mohsen Mahdawi has appeared at the Vermont state house to help launch a legal defence fund to help immigrants like himself who are facing deportation hearings. His appearance on Thursday comes nearly a week after Mahdawi himself was released from immigration detention, after spending nearly 16 days in custody for his pro-Palestinian advocacy. The administration of President Donald Trump has sought to deport Mahdawi and other student activists for their demonstrations, citing a Cold War-era law that allows the removal of foreign nationals deemed to have adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States. Though released on bail, Mahdawi continues to face deportation proceedings. He reflected on his time behind bars at a news conference where he and state officials announced the Vermont Immigration Legal Defense Fund. ' I was unjustly kidnapped or detained, if you want to go by the legal term,' Mahdawi said with a wry smile. 'And without the support and the love that I received from the people of Vermont – Vermonters and the representatives of the people in Vermont – I may not have been here today among you.' Mahdawi entered the national spotlight as a leader in the student protests at Columbia University, an Ivy League school in New York City that has been at the forefront of pro-Palestinian advocacy. A legal permanent resident of the US, Mahdawi himself is Palestinian and grew up in the Far'a refugee camp in the occupied West Bank. He has publicly described the oppression he said he experienced there, including the deaths of family members and friends at the hands of the Israeli military. Since Israel launched its war in Gaza on October 7, 2023, Mahdawi has been outspoken in his opposition to the military campaign. As an undergraduate at Columbia, he helped found student groups like Dar: The Palestinian Student Society and Columbia University Apartheid Divest. The latter has taken a lead role in protesting ties between the school and organisations involved with Israel and its military activities. But President Trump has described such protests as 'illegal' and pledged to crack down on non-citizen participants. On March 8, Mahdawi's colleague at Dar, Mahmoud Khalil, was the first student protester to be taken into custody for his role in the nationwide student protest movement. Others have since been detained, including Tufts University doctoral student Rumeysa Ozturk, who supporters say did little more than write an op-ed about the war in Gaza. Just over a month later, on April 14, Mahdawi arrived at an appointment in Colchester, Vermont, ostensibly for his US citizenship application. Immigration officers, however, were waiting on site to arrest him, and he was led away in handcuffs. Mahdawi was accused of no crime. The Trump administration, however, has accused him of harassing Jewish students and leading 'pro-Hamas protests', though it has not offered evidence to support those allegations. 'His rhetoric on the war in Israel proves his terrorist sympathies,' a recent document from the Department of Homeland Security said. Mahdawi's detention galvanised Vermont politicians on both sides of the political spectrum. Governor Phil Scott, a Republican, called on the federal government to release any evidence it had that Mahdawi was a threat to national security and denounced the surreptitious manner of his arrest. 'What cannot be justified is how this action was undertaken. Law enforcement officers in this country should not operate in the shadows or hide behind masks,' Scott wrote in a press release. 'The power of the executive branch of the federal government is immense, but it is not infinite, and it is not absolute.' Meanwhile, Senator Peter Welch, a Democrat, visited Mahdawi behind bars at Vermont's Northwest State Correctional Facility in an effort to raise awareness about his case. Ultimately, on April 30, a federal district court deemed that Mahdawi was no flight risk and released him on bail, warning that the government's actions could be interpreted as an attempt to 'shut down debate'. In his public appearance on Thursday, Mahdawi thanked his fellow Vermonters for showing him support and called on the state to act as an example to others. 'Home is where you feel safe and loved. And those who surround you, they are your people, and you are my people,' he told the crowd. 'This is a message of hope and light that our humanity is much larger than what divide us. Our humanity is much larger than unjust laws. Our humanity is much larger than being Democrat or Republican, Black or white, in a city or in rural area.' Mahdawi also described how, when he was in detention, he saw an undocumented farm worker praying on his knees each night before going to sleep. ' I think his prayers have been answered today by this initiative,' Mahdawi said of the legal defence fund. The fund's organisers said they hope to raise $1m to 'build a lasting safety net' for immigrant families in Vermont. That sum, they said, would fund training and hiring legal staff to respond to what they described as an immigration 'crisis'. 'Vermont is going to take action to ensure no one faces deportation, detention or family separation alone and unrepresented,' said State Senator Kesha Ram Hinsdale. 'This will be embedded in our civic infrastructure in a way we have not achieved before and we hope will have long-term benefits beyond this immediate crisis.' Vermont State Treasurer Mike Pieciak added that the fund would ensure justice is not solely reserved for those who can afford it. 'This effort is not about politics. This effort is about principle,' he said. 'The fundamental right to due process means very little if somebody cannot access legal representation, especially when they're navigating a system as complex and as high stakes as the US immigration law.'
Yahoo
08-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Released Palestinian student helps launch immigrant legal aid initiative in Vermont
A Palestinian student arrested during an interview about finalizing his U.S. citizenship helped launch a $1 million fundraising campaign to strengthen the legal safety net for immigrants in Vermont on Thursday, a week after a federal judge freed him from custody. Mohsen Mahdawi, 34, who led protests against Israel's war in Gaza at Columbia University, spent 16 days in a state prison before a judge ordered him released on April 30. The Trump administration has said Mahdawi should be deported because his activism threatens its foreign policy goals, but the judge ruled that he has raised a 'substantial claim' that the government arrested him to stifle speech with which it disagrees. Immigration authorities have detained college students from around the country since the first days of the Trump administration. Many of them participated in campus protests over the Israel-Hamas war. Mahdawi was among the first to win his freedom after challenging his arrest. 'This is a message of hope and light, that our humanity is much larger than what divides us. Our humanity is much larger than unjust laws,' he said at a Statehouse news conference. 'And this is also a message to the rest of the world. It starts from Vermont.' Mahdawi joined Vermont State Treasurer Mike Pieciak, Senate Majority Leader Kesha Ram Hinsdale and community advocates to announce the Vermont Immigration Legal Defense Fund. The group, which also includes lawyers and philanthropists, says the fund will be used to expand the legal team at the Vermont Asylum Assistance Project, train pro bono attorneys and partner with community groups to support those facing deportation, detention and family separation. 'I am here with a large and diverse group of Vermonters to say: We protect and take care of our people, regardless of their national origin, regardless of their immigration status, regardless of the language they speak,' Ram Hinsdale said. 'We take care of our own against any and all threats.' Members of Vermont's congressional delegation have spoken up on Mahdawi's behalf, as have state politicians. Vermont's House and Senate passed resolutions condemning the circumstances of his detention and advocating for his release and due process rights. Republican Gov. Phil Scott has said there is no justification for the manner in which Mahdawi was arrested, at an immigration office in Colchester. 'Law enforcement officers in this country should not operate in the shadows or hide behind masks,' the governor said the next day. 'The power of the executive branch of the federal government is immense, but it is not infinite, and it is not absolute.' Mahdawi, a legal permanent resident, was born in a refugee camp in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and moved to the United States in 2014. At Columbia, he organized campus protests and co-founded the Palestinian Student Union with Mahmoud Khalil, another Palestinian permanent resident of the U.S. and graduate student who was arrested in March. His release, which is being challenged by the government, allows him to travel outside of his home state of Vermont and attend his graduation from Columbia in New York later this month. On Thursday, he described sharing a prison cell with a farmer from Mexico who prayed every night. 'I think his prayers have been answered today by this initiative,' he said. 'This is what I call love and care. This is what I call humanity and justice. This is what I call the teachings of Jesus, who would feed the hungry, who would shelter the homeless and who would provide support to illegal immigrants.'
CNN
08-05-2025
- Politics
- CNN
Released Palestinian student helps launch immigrant legal aid initiative in Vermont
Immigration The Middle East Israel-Hamas war Student lifeFacebookTweetLink Follow A Palestinian student arrested during an interview about finalizing his U.S. citizenship helped launch a $1 million fundraising campaign to strengthen the legal safety net for immigrants in Vermont on Thursday, a week after a federal judge freed him from custody. Mohsen Mahdawi, 34, who led protests against Israel's war in Gaza at Columbia University, spent 16 days in a state prison before a judge ordered him released on April 30. The Trump administration has said Mahdawi should be deported because his activism threatens its foreign policy goals, but the judge ruled that he has raised a 'substantial claim' that the government arrested him to stifle speech with which it disagrees. Immigration authorities have detained college students from around the country since the first days of the Trump administration. Many of them participated in campus protests over the Israel-Hamas war. Mahdawi was among the first to win his freedom after challenging his arrest. 'This is a message of hope and light, that our humanity is much larger than what divides us. Our humanity is much larger than unjust laws,' he said at a Statehouse news conference. 'And this is also a message to the rest of the world. It starts from Vermont.' Mahdawi joined Vermont State Treasurer Mike Pieciak, Senate Majority Leader Kesha Ram Hinsdale and community advocates to announce the Vermont Immigration Legal Defense Fund. The group, which also includes lawyers and philanthropists, says the fund will be used to expand the legal team at the Vermont Asylum Assistance Project, train pro bono attorneys and partner with community groups to support those facing deportation, detention and family separation. 'I am here with a large and diverse group of Vermonters to say: We protect and take care of our people, regardless of their national origin, regardless of their immigration status, regardless of the language they speak,' Ram Hinsdale said. 'We take care of our own against any and all threats.' Members of Vermont's congressional delegation have spoken up on Mahdawi's behalf, as have state politicians. Vermont's House and Senate passed resolutions condemning the circumstances of his detention and advocating for his release and due process rights. Republican Gov. Phil Scott has said there is no justification for the manner in which Mahdawi was arrested, at an immigration office in Colchester. 'Law enforcement officers in this country should not operate in the shadows or hide behind masks,' the governor said the next day. 'The power of the executive branch of the federal government is immense, but it is not infinite, and it is not absolute.' Mahdawi, a legal permanent resident, was born in a refugee camp in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and moved to the United States in 2014. At Columbia, he organized campus protests and co-founded the Palestinian Student Union with Mahmoud Khalil, another Palestinian permanent resident of the U.S. and graduate student who was arrested in March. His release, which is being challenged by the government, allows him to travel outside of his home state of Vermont and attend his graduation from Columbia in New York later this month. On Thursday, he described sharing a prison cell with a farmer from Mexico who prayed every night. 'I think his prayers have been answered today by this initiative,' he said. 'This is what I call love and care. This is what I call humanity and justice. This is what I call the teachings of Jesus, who would feed the hungry, who would shelter the homeless and who would provide support to illegal immigrants.'
Boston Globe
08-05-2025
- Politics
- Boston Globe
Released Palestinian student to meet with Vermont governor and lawmakers
Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up 'Justice is inevitable. We will not fear anyone because our fight is a fight for love, a fight for democracy, a fight for humanity,' Mahdawi told supporters outside the courthouse last week. Advertisement He will join Vermont State Treasurer Mike Pieciak, Senate Majority Leader Kesha Ram Hinsdale and community advocates at the Statehouse to announce the Vermont Immigration Legal Defense Fund. The group, which also includes lawyers and philanthropists, says the goal is to improve access to legal advice for immigrants and build long-term infrastructure within the justice system as it pertains to immigration law. Members of Vermont's congressional delegation have spoken up on Mahdawi's behalf, as have state politicians. Vermont's House and Senate passed resolutions condemning the circumstances of his detention and advocating for his release and due process rights. Advertisement Republican Gov. Phil Scott has said there is no justification for the manner in which Mahdawi was arrested, at an immigration office in Colchester. 'Law enforcement officers in this country should not operate in the shadows or hide behind masks,' the governor said the next day. 'The power of the executive branch of the federal government is immense, but it is not infinite, and it is not absolute.' Mahdawi, a legal permanent resident, was born in a refugee camp in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and moved to the United States in 2014. At Columbia, he organized campus protests and co-founded the Palestinian Student Union with Mahmoud Khalil, another Palestinian permanent resident of the U.S. and graduate student who was arrested in March. His release, which is being challenged by the government, allows him to travel outside of his home state of Vermont and attend his graduation from Columbia in New York later this month.
