Washington DC - President Donald Trump's administration has restarted deportation proceedings against Mohsen Mahdawi over his opposition to Israel's genocide in Gaza, having fired the judge who dismissed the case.

The US Board of Immigration Appeals made the decision to reopen Mahdawi's case mere weeks after the Trump administration fired Nina Froes, the Massachusetts-based immigration judge who blocked his deportation in February.

In overturning Froes' decision, Trump's Department of Justice continues down a road of accusing the pro-Palestinian activist of being antisemitic, supporting terrorism, and threatening US foreign policy.

These claims are based on Mahdawi's leadership of pro-Palestinian campus protests at Columbia University in 2023 and 2024.

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Mahdawi strictly opposes Israel's genocide and ethnic cleansing in Gaza, which has been recognized as such by the United Nations. As part of his activism, he initiated an outreach program that worked with Jewish groups that also oppose the violence.

He was arrested and detained by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in April 2025 while attending a citizenship interview.

His detention and prosecution by the DOJ is part of an organized effort by the Trump administration to silence and crack down on critics of Israel and those who oppose the killing of Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank, and elsewhere.

"The government continues to weaponize the immigration system to silence dissent," Mahdawi said in a statement responding to the reopening of his case.

"But it cannot erase the Constitution or the First Amendment, which protects free speech for all," he continued.

"The government is trying to punish and deport me, a stateless Palestinian refugee from the occupied West Bank, because it opposes my peaceful advocacy for human dignity and equal rights for Palestinians."