Mohsen Mahdawi, a Palestinian green-card holder and Columbia University student who was detained for his activism, walked out of immigration detention on Wednesday after a federal judge in Vermont ordered his release.
Mahdawi had been detained and ordered deported by the Trump administration on 14 April despite not being charged with a crime.
“The two weeks of detention so far demonstrate great harm to a person who has been charged with no crime,” said Geoffrey Crawford, a US district judge, at a hearing on Wednesday, according to ABC News. “Mr Mahdawi, I will order you released.”
Mahdawi was arrested by Ice in Colchester, Vermont, while attending a naturalization interview.