The Trump administration is arguing that 34-year-old Upper Valley resident Mohsen Mahdawi is a threat to the community and should stay behind bars, according to documents filed Monday ahead of his Wednesday release hearing.
In the filings, the feds acknowledge that Mahdawi 鈥� who is being held at Northwest State Correctional Facility in St. Albans 鈥� has not been convicted of a crime. But Secretary of State Marco Rubio alleged in a letter that Mahdawi鈥檚 activism at Columbia University threatens U.S. foreign policy goals, including 鈥渢o combat anti-Semitism around the world and in the United States鈥� 鈥� an allegation Mahdawi and his lawyers flatly refute.
The federal government argued that the federal court in Vermont does not have the authority to grant Mahdawi鈥檚 release. And they said even if it did, Mahdawi鈥檚 鈥渉istory and characteristics鈥� show he should not be released.
The government cited two reports filed in Vermont years ago 鈥� including a police report from the Windsor Police Department in 2015 in which a local gun shop owner described Mahdawi as suspicious and alleged he made violent comments about Jewish people, as well as a report from a 2019 border crossing that said Mahdawi was caught with illegally possessed drugs on his way back from Canada.
In a response filed Tuesday, Mahdawi鈥檚 lawyers said both incidents were 鈥渦nsubstantiated allegations that have long been dismissed.鈥�
In particular, Mahdawi wrote under penalty of perjury that he never said the statements attributed to him by the gun shop owner in 2015, and said he believes the allegations may have been motivated by racial stereotypes. He said he met with the Windsor Police Department and the FBI afterwards, and that the FBI agent similarly suspected the report was motivated by racial bias and notified Mahdawi that the investigation had 鈥渃leared鈥� him a few months later. (Judge Geoffrey Crawford has requested that the FBI agent provide testimony about that investigation at the hearing Wednesday morning.)
Regarding the 2019 border incident, Mahdawi said he had only prescription medication and vitamins in the car, and that he believes subsequent testing confirmed this. He said he accepted court diversion in that case even though he did nothing wrong, and that the matter was later expunged.
Mahdawi鈥檚 lawyers, meanwhile, continue to argue that Mahdawi was arrested on the basis of his 鈥渓awful speech in support of Palestinian human rights,鈥� and that the government is attempting to obfuscate by raising the other incidents.
鈥淗e is neither a flight risk nor a danger to the community, quite the contrary,鈥� Mahdawi鈥檚 lawyers wrote in a court filing Tuesday. 鈥淗e hopes only to continue with his educational pursuits and become a United States citizen.鈥�
Mahdawi is from the occupied West Bank and is a lawful permanent resident of the United States. He moved to Vermont in 2014 and lives in White River Junction, and is a student at Columbia University, where he helped found the Palestinian Student Union and participated in on-campus protests and walkouts. He took a step back from that activism last year, his friends say, in part because he was afraid about how it would impact his citizenship process.
Mahdawi鈥檚 fears proved prescient. Two weeks ago, Mahdawi was called into an immigration office in Colchester for a citizenship interview, only to be arrested by officers, put into an unmarked car and driven away.
Last week, a judge ordered officials to keep Mahdawi in Vermont for up to 90 days (his Columbia peer Mahmoud Khalil and Tufts student R眉meysa 脰zt眉rk are both being held in Louisiana).
More from 开云体育: Mohsen Mahdawi will stay in Vermont as judge considers case
Judge Crawford will consider the government鈥檚 case and Mahdawi鈥檚 arguments at a hearing Wednesday morning in Burlington.
Lexi Krupp contributed reporting.
