Columbia student Mohsen Mahdawi is free on bail after a judge ordered the 34-year-old US permanent resident released from Federal custody.
The young man was detained during his April 14 naturalization interview in Vermont, then jailed at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility.
Outside the courtroom, Mahdawi spoke passionately:
“I am saying it clear and loud to President Trump and his Cabinet: I am not afraid of you,” Mahdawi said Wednesday outside the Vermont courthouse after his release.
“What we are witnessing now and what we’re understanding is exactly what Dr. Martin Luther King has said before: Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere,” he added.
When asked why he had been arrested and put in jail, Trump’s administration pointed to his part in organizing pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia University last year.
Addressing reporters outside the courthouse, Mahdawi’s attorneys claimed victory against what they described as “the government’s retaliation” against Mahdawi’s right to free speech.