04/14/2025
At Perky Planet, we are stunned and furious.
Mohsen Mahdawi, a legal permanent resident who has lived in the U.S. for 10 years — a Vermont resident, a Columbia graduate, a Buddhist, and a peaceful activist — was arrested by ICE while attending what he thought was a citizenship appointment in Vermont. He has not been charged with a crime.
Let that sink in.
This is not justice.
This is retaliation.
This is authoritarianism wrapped in bureaucracy.
Mohsen co-founded student groups that celebrated Palestinian identity and peacefully advocated for divestment from apartheid. He stepped back from activism out of respect for his immigration status and spiritual path. And still, in 2025 America, that wasn’t enough to protect him from being targeted, handcuffed, and disappeared.
His arrest mirrors a growing and chilling pattern — student organizers, especially Palestinian ones, being rounded up, transferred to hardline jurisdictions, and silenced under the guise of "national security."
We stand with Mohsen.
We stand with due process.
We stand with every person who believes this country should live up to its promises.
Vermont lawmakers Bernie Sanders, Peter Welch, and Becca Balint have called this what it is: immoral, inhumane, and illegal.
📢 Let’s amplify their voices.
📢 Let’s demand transparency, due process, and dignity.
📢 Let’s remind the world that being pro-human rights is not a crime.
A witness filmed Mohsen Mahdawi, a student protest organizer at Columbia and legal permanent resident, being detained by immigration officials before his citizenship interview in Vermont.
