US claims student’s activism could ‘undermine’ Middle East peace

Green-card holder Mohsen Mahdawi, 34, arrested at appointment where he was meant to take citizenship test

The Trump administration is justifying its efforts to deport a student at Columbia University by saying that his activities could potentially undermine" the Middle East peace process.

In a memo from the secretary of state, Marco Rubio, reviewed exclusively by the New York Times, the administration asserts that Mohsen Mahdawi, 34, a green-card holder and student who led pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia, had undermined the Middle East peace process and threatened the US goal to peacefully" resolve conflict in Israel and Gaza.