AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org. I’m Amy Goodman.

In other higher education news, we turn now to the latest news on the case of the Palestinian Columbia University graduate student and activist Mohsen Mahdawi. New legal filings show a federal immigration judge has sided with the Trump administration, ordering his deportation. Mohsen Mahdawi has filed an appeal backed by the ACLU. In February, another immigration judge dismissed his case, but it was reinstated after the Trump administration filed an appeal. In a statement, Mahdawi said, quote, “The administration is abusing immigration law to silence me for speaking the truth about Palestinian suffering and genocide,” unquote.

Mohsen Mahdawi is a green card holder who grew up in a refugee camp in the occupied West Bank, was arrested by ICE in Vermont in April of last year when he appeared for what he was told would be his U.S. citizenship interview. He spent more than two weeks in ICE custody before a judge demanded his release. He went then to New York and graduated from Columbia University and now is at SIPA. He’s a graduate student there.

For more, we’re joined by Mohsen Mahdawi, who happens to be in Chicago at the moment.

Mohsen, if you can talk about what your new strategy is for dealing with — have you gotten a deportation order?

MOHSEN MAHDAWI: First of all, thank you, Amy, for the interview, and it’s a pleasure to be with you and with your audience.

I want to talk about this case and what it — what this case is really about. This is not just my case, but it is a driving to a deep question about the heart of this country that is related to the Constitution. And the question that is at stake: Do we believe in the rule of law according to the Constitution, or do we believe in the rule of whoever is in power? And what the Trump administration has done with me and with other students, the crackdown on universities and weaponizing immigration laws, is unconstitutional.

And my strategy now, after they have fired — after they fired the immigration judge who terminated my case, and remanded the case, reactivated it, reinstated the deportation, and they deemed that I am deportable, and they gave it to another judge, I decided to not apply for a relief, because I’m going to cut to the core of this issue, which is an issue that is related to the First Amendment. Do I have, as a green card holder, as a lawful permanent resident for 12 years, never committed a crime — do I have the rights that actually the citizenship questionnaire that I get tested on states that I do, which is, do I have the right to free speech, freedom of assembly and freedom of expression? And now the decision that I decided to do and to take, a difficult decision because I am going full-scale technically without a backup plan, going directly to the 1st Circuit, because I believe that what the Trump administration has done is unconstitutional.

AMY GOODMAN: And so, your next step? And again, have they given you a deportation order at this point?

MOHSEN MAHDAWI: Yes, they have given — they have issued a deportation order to a country that is not my country, to Jordan. And it’s not surprising. I’m not going to get in details about this, because we will be litigating this, as well. But it’s not surprising that this government, that is denying me here the rights in this country and denying my people in Palestine their freedom and their dignity, is also denying my connection to the land itself. Now this deportation order is on hold, because, again, we have appealed to the 1st Circuit, which is a federal court. And it will not be — there will not be action until there is a decision from the federal court on this issue, on this matter.

AMY GOODMAN: And, Mohsen, finally, I want to ask you — I mean, I covered your graduation as an undergraduate from Columbia last year. I mean, when you came down the aisle after being released from an ICE jail after a judge’s demand and order, I mean, the place erupted. You got a standing ovation. You’re now a Columbia graduate student. Is Columbia coming to your defense?

MOHSEN MAHDAWI: Columbia has not issued any statements about this. They have not reached out to give any kind of support. I see the double standard in comparison to the student who was detained last by ICE and released within 24 hours. They have not stood up, and they have not given or provided any support.

But I have to say, Amy, this is — it’s not only that Columbia students who gave a — you know, they have supported me, and the Columbia community, and did the standing ovation. We’re talking about the whole nation, the whole country, that is now refusing to side with Israel and is objecting to giving military aid to Israel, that has been conducting a genocide, ongoing genocide against my people, and America, that has been providing the weapons for this genocide, providing the political coverage for it, and sustaining it not only, you know, over the past three years, but this has been going on for more than 70 years.

So, the decision that — you know, the situation is, I’m going to fight for what I believe in when I applied to become a citizen in this country, because I deeply believed in the promise of this Constitution. And I believe that taking it to the 1st Circuit will cut to the core of this matter. Immigration courts have been weaponized. Immigration judges can be fired by the executive branch, and we’ve seen that. In federal courts, it’s designed by the Constitution, according to Alexander Hamilton Federalist Papers in 1878, and that’s Article 78, as well. And it says that there has to be a separation between the executive and the judicial. Therefore, there was a design that immigration — that federal judges cannot be fired, and they have to abide by the Constitution. That’s why I’m taking my case to the 1st Circuit. And I believe that we will prevail in this, not only on my behalf, but on behalf of millions of people here who deserve to have equal rights, because the fight in Palestine and the fight here in America is interconnected, and it’s about the dignity of all people and their equal rights.

AMY GOODMAN: Mohsen Mahdawi, we want to thank you for being with us, Columbia University graduate student, detained over his outspoken support for Palestinian rights. We thank you for being with us, and we’ll continue to follow your case.

Up next, Hell’s Army, a new documentary about the Wagner Group. We’ll speak with its director, Rick Rowley. Back in 20 seconds.

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AMY GOODMAN: “Corners” by Kassi Valazza.