Mahdawi ordered – An immigration judge ordered Columbia University graduate student Mohsen Mahdawi’s deportation to Jordan, a decision his supporters say reflects a broader Trump-era crackdown on pro-Palestinian protest activity. The case unfolds as other noncitizen students co
On Wednesday, Columbia University graduate student Mohsen Mahdawi received a deportation order—an abrupt turn in a case his supporters say has been shaped less by immigration law than by political speech.
In a legal filing published Wednesday, an immigration judge ordered Mahdawi, who is Palestinian, to be deported to Jordan. The decision lands in a case that has been high-profile for more than a year, after Mahdawi was targeted by the Trump administration for pro-Palestinian activism.
The pressure escalated sharply during an April 2025 naturalization appointment, when immigration authorities abruptly detained him. Since then. Mahdawi’s situation has become part of a wider pattern affecting other students nationwide—many of them pro-Palestinian protesters—who have faced visa revocations. arrests. or threats after taking part in demonstrations denouncing Israel.
The Trump administration’s crackdown on pro-Palestinian speech. which began in the first days of President Trump’s second term. has not slowed. Supporters say many protesters are still fighting deportation cases. and in some instances criminal charges. as they navigate a process that can take months or years—and. for some. disrupt lives far beyond court filings.
Mahmoud Khalil, a recent Columbia graduate, was given a temporary reprieve in mid-May after spending months in custody in 2025. The reprieve came with a devastating cost: his detention meant he missed the birth of his son. Khalil must now petition the Supreme Court to halt deportation proceedings to Algeria.
Other targeted noncitizen students chose to leave after facing what supporters describe as pressure from the U.S. security apparatus. Tufts student Rümeysa Öztürk, and Cornell student Momodou Taal, are among those named in the broader account of enforcement against pro-Palestinian activism.
Öztürk, who was detained for weeks over an op-ed in Tufts’ student newspaper, returned to Turkey after graduating. In April, she wrote, “The time stolen from me by the U.S. government belongs not just to me. but to the children and youth I have dedicated my life to advocating for. ” and she added. “With them in mind. I am choosing to return home as planned.”.
Another case involves Leqaa Kordia, an undocumented Palestinian woman detained at a Columbia University protest. She was held in a notorious Texas ICE jail for a year before her release last April. Even after that time behind bars, she remains in deportation fight. In an interview with PBS in May. Kordia said. “I mean. to be imprisoned for a whole year simply for practicing my freedom of speech and to be accused of horrific things that I have nothing to do with. it’s outrageous.”.
Mahdawi’s case is not over. The American Civil Liberties Union said in a press release Wednesday that he will be appealing. The organization also pointed to the limits on government action while his legal challenges are pending.
“The First Amendment protects all of us from government censorship. citizen or not. ” said Nate Freed Wessler. deputy director of the ACLU’s Speech. Privacy. and Technology Project. He added that the government’s continued persecution of Mahdawi for his beliefs should “send a chill down the spine of everyone in this country. ” arguing that once the government allows exceptions to First Amendment protections for disliked speech. “there’s no telling where the censorship will stop.”.
A separate habeas corpus petition by Mahdawi is making its way through federal court. The ACLU says that while it proceeds, he cannot be re-detained or deported.
The fight over Mahdawi’s fate is unfolding alongside claims made in a separate, related lawsuit: the AAUP v. Rubio trial, in which the American Association of University Professors sued to stop the U.S. from detaining students on ideological grounds. Documents from that case. according to the account cited in the Wednesday update. found that the federal government frequently used spurious sources to target students based on their political opinions. Those sources, as Najib Aminy reported in January, included anonymous blacklisting sites like Canary Mission.
In the judge’s court order from that case. the ruling said DHS and the State Department “acted in concert to misuse the sweeping powers of their respective offices to target non-citizen pro-Palestinians for deportation primarily on account of their First Amendment-protected political speech.” The order further said that “the effect of these targeted deportation proceedings continues unconstitutionally to chill freedom of speech to this day.”.
For Mahdawi. that history now sits in the immediate shadow of Wednesday’s deportation order to Jordan—an outcome he plans to challenge as the legal process continues. and as other noncitizen students across the country keep pressing courts to stop what they say has become a system of punishment for protest.
Mohsen Mahdawi deportation order Columbia University Jordan pro-Palestinian protests Trump administration immigration judge ACLU First Amendment ICE detention Mahmoud Khalil Rümeysa Öztürk Leqaa Kordia Canary Mission AAUP v. Rubio