25 Comments
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Wendy horgan's avatar

Sounds like a long, nightmarish road still ahead for this Columbia student. Who is a deeply valued member of his community and family.

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Potter's avatar

Yes he was behaving as an American citizen, a decent person, should. It's those in the government that are not. We gotta change this.

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Lark Leonard's avatar

This is beautifully stated! Thank goodness that Mohsen missed that flight to Louisiana! I hope he can proceed to his full citizenship status as soon as possible. Thank you, Jen & Lia, for this interview.

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Miriam Polli's avatar

So happy to hear this. It DOES take a village.

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Potter's avatar

I am missing how or why MM was singled out and by who. Who laid the trap? Who is "the Government" here, the Justice Department? Who gave ICE the go ahead to use their brutal punishing tactics as if people are guilty before anything is proven? ( I think it's the ICE "culture" which seems lawless). Where/who does ICE get their orders from exactly? ICE seems like the a Gestapo working outside the law!!

This all is very nefarious criminal behavior on the part of "the Government". This is not "the Government" we know or want.

**We have supported the ACLU, proudly so, for many years- and as generously as we could.

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Potter's avatar

Check this for the story details--- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Detention_of_Mohsen_Mahdawi

A person is allowed to actively advocate for what they believe is right in this country as far as I know. We shall not change that.

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Barbara Fairfax's avatar

Everyone who possibly can maybe can consider a donation to the ACLU. They have accomplished amazing things for people under this regime.

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Jenni's avatar

Why aren't transcripts available for these podcasts? Pretty basic accessibility issue and easy to do.

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JMcLV's avatar

Bingo.

I generally can't watch videos to get my news, and it's inefficient when I can.

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Susanna J. Sturgis's avatar

Amen a hundred times! I subscribe to, and do my best to keep up with, more than a dozen excellent Substacks. Listening to a podcast takes time, and the insights I need may be buried halfway through or at the end. I don't need to kill time during a boring commute, and if I had to *listen* to all the interesting podcasts, I'd have no time to do anything else.

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Deborah Pacheco's avatar

PS…..I’m ashamed of what’s happening in this country.

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Tarla Rai Peterson's avatar

Thanks to individuals (lawyer, judge) doing their jobs, even in hostile conditions. Thanks to ACLU for doing its job.

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Kathleen Pirquet's avatar

The so-called president is a criminal being allowed to offend chronically. How bad does this have to get before the toadies in the SCOTUS do their job? How long will The People meekly tolerate the shredding of our Constitution and the flood of daily lies and atrocities?

We have to EARN our democracy.

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Deborah Pacheco's avatar

No excuse for what happened to Mohsen and so many others Trump and his Nazi solders have illegally done. I loved when you said “ I am not afraid of you “ I wish you happiness and a successful future !

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Rachel Youdelman's avatar

There is no need to portray this person or anyone in a similar position as a saint. Despite „voluminous“ evidence that he was a super-awesome guy, there is also evidence to the contrary. Why should either have bearing on anyone’s right to due process?

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Ballard Graham's avatar

Such a sad state of affairs in this country when people can just be arrested by our government for essentially no legal reason(s)!

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Michelle Jordan's avatar

This is an extremely dangerous precedent. Will stuff like this start happening to American citizens if our government doesn’t like our dissenting opinions? Will the “homegrowns” get sent to El Salvador?

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Merlin Dorfman's avatar

Excellent discussion, thanks. But I am wondering why a Columbia student, presumably living in New York, had an INS interview in Vermont. And I have to assume that ICE found out through INS that he would be in Vermont. I wonder if the office in Vermont had any idea that he would be arrested.

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Kim Sherwood's avatar

Thank you, Jen, for bringing us this important and insightful conversation.

I think the word "arrest" ought to be added to you list of words / phrases we can do without. Doesn't a crime have to be allegedly committed in order to be arrested?

Secondly, based on what was stated here, Mr. Mahdawi seems far less a criminal than either Trump or Homan.

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JP4M's avatar

Jen, I am trying to catch up after missing many messages. It is a delight to hear this wonderful interview and to learn more about Mr. Mahdawi. I wish everyone would be as kind, polite, and genuinely concerned about life and rights, and about wanting to help make the world a better place with kind, respectful, and responsible ways as were described and recognized by the judge. Thank you so much for sharing this interview.

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