BIA reinstates deportation proceedings against Columbia activist Mohsen Mahdawi

On May 7, 2026, the Board of Immigration Appeals — the appellate body within the Department of Justice's Executive Office for Immigration Review — reinstated removal proceedings against Mohsen Mahdawi, a lawful permanent resident and Palestinian student activist who served as co-president of Columbia University's Palestinian Student Union. The BIA's order reversed a February 2026 ruling by Immigration Judge Nina Froes, who had dismissed the government's case after finding that it failed to meet its burden of proof and that its evidence was inadmissible. Froes was subsequently fired by the Trump administration, and the reinstated case will proceed before a different judge.

The government had sought Mahdawi's removal under a rarely invoked Immigration and Nationality Act provision that lets the Secretary of State pursue deportation of noncitizens deemed to pose "adverse foreign policy consequences." Mahdawi was arrested in 2025 when he appeared for an immigration interview, detained for roughly two weeks, and released by a federal court — without ever being charged with a crime. He has characterized the proceedings as an attempt to weaponize the immigration system to punish his First Amendment-protected advocacy for Palestinian rights.

The reinstatement is a companion to the case of fellow Columbia activist Mahmoud Khalil, whose removal the BIA fast-tracked earlier in 2026 (archived separately). Together the cases reflect a sustained federal effort to use immigration removal authority against green-card-holding student activists for protected political speech, and they raise due-process concerns about the use of the appellate immigration body to override favorable lower rulings.

Updates

2026-07-21 — Second Circuit reversed district court order releasing Mahdawi from immigration detention [5, 6]

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit reversed the district court order that had released Mohsen Mahdawi from immigration detention, ruling that the district judge erred in ordering his release. The district court had found the administration was likely targeting Mahdawi for his pro-Palestinian advocacy and that his continued detention would cause irreparable harm; the Second Circuit overturned that finding, opening the door to his re-arrest and removing the judicial protection that had kept him free.