"We conclude that the district court should not have reached this question, because it did not have subject matter jurisdiction over the habeas petition."
The ruling, which came down from the 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals in New York, overturned a decision from a federal judge in Vermont. The decision in Vermont from the judge likened the decision to deport Mahdawi, 34, as something akin to McCarthyism.
The court of appeals said in the ruling that federal law barred the court from getting involved in the decision. “We conclude that the district court should not have reached this question, because it did not have subject matter jurisdiction over the habeas petition," US Circuit Judge Debra Ann Livingston said for the appeals panel.
The Vermont decision was vacated and was remanded with instructions for the lower court to dismiss the petition because the lower court lacked jurisdiction.
“Today’s decision is a grave setback, although I am confident justice will ultimately prevail,” Mahdawi said in a statement. “It reflects a dangerous failure under political pressure, one that risks turning the federal courts into instruments of politics rather than guardians of constitutional freedom.”
His arrest was viral in April 2025, when he thought he was at a naturalization interview but then he got taken away in handcuffs. The ruling is a major win for the Trump administration, which has been working to deport foreign nationals who have come to the US and then led pro-Palestinian riots and demonstrations on college campuses. In their case to deport Mahdawi, DHS has said that a gun shop owner told police that in 2015 the foreign national said he used to build guns "to kill Jews while he was in Palestine.” He has denied that the conversation took place, but does not deny he was at the gun shop.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said that he and others “would have potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States,” which allows them to be removed from the country.
“The 2nd Circuit’s decision to vacate an activist judge’s order to release a terrorist sympathizer is a win for public safety and the rule of law,” a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said in a statement, per The Hill. “It is a privilege to be granted a visa or green card to live and study in the United States of America,” they continued. “When you advocate for violence, glorify and support terrorists that relish the killing of Americans, and harass Jews, that privilege should be revoked, and you should not be in this country.”
The ruling in the case of Mahdawi follows a similar ruling for Columbia graduate Mahmoud Khalil, who was also involved with the Gaza camp protests on campus. Mahdawi is the co-founder of the Palestinian Student Union at Columbia University, established in the fall of 2023 right after the October 7 Hamas terrorist attack.
He was born in a refugee camp in the West Bank before coming to the US.
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