On July 21, 2026, a unanimous panel of the Second US Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a lower court decision ordering the release of pro-Palestinian activist Mohsen Mahdawi The Guardian.

The Second Circuit panel docketed under No. 25-1113 found that a Vermont federal judge overstepped his authority by intervening in Mahdawi's immigration case before it fully moved through the Department of Justice immigration court system. The Vermont federal judge had likened the government's efforts to expel Mahdawi and other activists to McCarthyist repression. The appeals court did not weigh in on the merits of Mahdawi's claim that he was unconstitutionally targeted for criticizing Israel The Guardian.

The Vermont district court case is captioned MAHDAWI v. TRUMP, et al. with case number 2:25-cv-389. The Second Circuit heard oral arguments in Mahdawi's appeal on September 30, 2025, following prior district court proceedings including an April 23, 2025 status conference and an April 30, 2025 hearing on Mahdawi's Motion for Release Under Mapp v. Reno. His physical presence was required at these Vermont hearings.

Mahdawi, 35, is a Columbia University student designated as GS '25 and SIPA '27. Born in a refugee camp in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, he became a legal permanent resident of the US in 2015. In April 2025, immigration agents arrested Mahdawi during a citizenship interview. A Notice to Appear ordered him to appear before a DOJ immigration judge at a Louisiana detention facility on May 1, 2025. He was released two weeks later.

Mahdawi is appealing an order of removal issued against him by the Board of Immigration Appeals. The American Civil Liberties Union represents him. ACLU attorneys stated the government cannot detain or deport Mahdawi as the appeals process proceeds The Guardian.

The Second Circuit's decision mirrors a separate appellate panel's earlier 2026 ruling against Mahmoud Khalil, a former Columbia University classmate of Mahdawi. The Second Circuit is also expected to issue a separate ruling concerning Rümeysa Öztürk, a Turkish doctoral student at Tufts University. At the September 2025 hearing, government attorneys argued against the release of both Mahdawi and Öztürk, who was detained by masked federal agents after co-signing an op-ed critical of Israel The Guardian.

The Second Circuit's jurisdictional reasoning is notable for what it does not address. By reversing solely on the scope of the lower court's authority, the panel avoided evaluating the constitutional dimensions of Mahdawi's claim that his political speech triggered retaliatory enforcement. This preserves the administrative record as the primary venue for adjudicating the removal order while limiting federal district court oversight of ongoing immigration proceedings.