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Vermont Sen. Peter Welch (D) met with Columbia University activist Mohsen Mahdawi in a Vermont prison on Monday, where the Palestinian student pleaded for peace and urged those advocating for his release to continue fighting for democracy.
In a social media post, Welch posted a video of him meeting with Mahdawi, who is being imprisoned in the Northwest State Correctional Facility, the senator’s office said. Mahdawi was arrested last Monday, when immigration agents called him in for what was supposed to be his last test to gain U.S. citizenship; officials instead seemingly used the appointment as a trap in order to abduct him.
“I’m staying positive by reassuring myself in the ability of justice and the deep belief of democracy. This is the reason I wanted to become a citizen of this country — because I believe in the principles of this country,” Mahdawi said in the video posted by Welch.
Mahdawi said that a crucial idea taught to immigrants seeking to be naturalized is that freedom of speech and other protections under the First Amendment are supposed to be among the most important principles undergirding the U.S. — principles now being rapidly eroded as the Trump administration abducts and detains people like Mahdawi and fellow Columbia activist Mahmoud Khalil simply for speaking out against Israel’s genocide in Gaza.
Mahdawi hinted at this contradiction when Welch asked him to address Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s reasoning for detaining him. Rubio seeks to deport Mahdawi to the occupied West Bank, despite Mahdawi having had a green card for a decade.
A memo reportedly prepared by Rubio and cited by immigration agents for Mahdawi’s arrest claims that the green card holder’s presence in the U.S. is setting back the U.S.’s supposed goal of “peacefully” ending the violence in Gaza — rather than, perhaps, the U.S.’s policy of sending Israel’s military any and all weapons it needs to continue ravaging the besieged Palestinian territory.
“Basically, he is describing being anti-war as antisemitic. How could that be possible when my partners, most of my partners at Columbia’s campus and beyond are Jews and Israelis?” said Mahdawi. “My hope and my dream is to see this conflict, if one might say, to see an end to the war, an end to the killing, see a peaceful resolution between Palestinians and Israelis. How could this be a threat to anybody except the war machine that is feeding this?”
In the video, Mahdawi is clad in green prison garb but appears relaxed and smiling, as those who know him said he often is. He issued a message directly to those supporting him, asking them not to fret.
“I want to tell everyone that I feel so loved and so supported, and I am here in good hands. I am centered, I am clear, I am grounded,” he said. “And I don’t want you to worry about me. I want you to continue working for the democracy of this country and for humanity. The war must stop.”
Welch’s meeting with Mahdawi is the latest instance of Democrats taking direct action in response to immigrants and American citizens being detained, seemingly extralegally, by the Trump administration as part of its sweeping deportation campaign. It comes after Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Maryland) travelled to El Salvador to meet with his constituent, Kilmar Abrego García, in an attempt to secure his release so that he may return to his family in the U.S.
Last week, a group of House Democrats sent a letter to the Trump administration expressing their “profound outrage” over the detention of Mahdawi and others in the U.S.
“If Mr. Mahdawi can be tricked into coming to a government office and then arrested for simply making statements that the Trump Administration does not agree with, every American is at risk,” wrote the lawmakers, led by Rep. Becca Balint (D-Vermont). “Mr. Mahdawi’s arrest is immoral, inhumane, and illegal. With Mr. Mahdawi’s abduction, the Trump Administration continues to degrade America’s image on the global stage and descend the country further and further into authoritarianism.”
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