JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
Many of us have seen the video of Mohsen Mahdawi handcuffed and flashing a peace sign as he was taken away from a Vermont immigration office by federal agents this month.
MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
Mahdawi is a lawful permanent resident of the U.S., also an undergraduate student at Columbia University and co-founder of Colombia's Palestinian student union. He is one of several students detained and in danger of deportation ostensibly over their choice to advocate for Palestinian rights in the midst of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.
SUMMERS: Morning Edition's Leila Fadel sat down with Mahdawi inside a Vermont correctional facility for his first interview since being detained as part of a wider interview that will air tomorrow on Morning Edition. He tells Leila he knew he was taking a risk when he arrived for what he believed was his final interview to become a U.S. citizen.
MOHSEN MAHDAWI: When I get the appointment, the first thing was, OK, is this a trap or is it legit? And I realize directly that I am dealing with two extreme opposite poles. One is becoming a citizen with full rights, and the other one is being detained and having no rights. And I said to myself, I see the risk, I see the opportunity, and I want the American people to see this too.
LEILA FADEL, BYLINE: See what?
MAHDAWI: To see this level of injustice - that I'm doing everything legally; that I have prepared and studied for the - basically to answer questions for the citizenship about the Constitution and about this country; that I went willingly and respected the law; went to the interview; did everything the way how it's supposed to be done, and still the way how the government is responding to me, not to deny my application, but to arrest me, to detain me and to throw me into prison.
FADEL: Is there anything that you want America to hear from you?
MAHDAWI: I want Americans to know that I am no threat to anyone. That I am - my work and my energy that I am putting to advocate for peace and against war is a continuation of the same struggle that Martin Luther King had. It's for the Constitution to fill the promise that it holds for the citizens and for the people of this country.
SUMMERS: NPR has reached out to the Department of Homeland Security for comment, but has not yet heard back. Mahdawi has been charged with no crime, but the government is invoking a rarely used Immigration Act to deem that his presence would have adverse U.S. foreign policy consequences.
KELLY: You can hear a wider conversation between Leila Fadel and Mohsen Mahdawi on tomorrow's Morning Edition. His release hearing is scheduled for Wednesday as his case continues in federal court. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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