Appeals court reverses decision that released pro-Palestinian Columbia activist Mohsen Mahdawi

The second circuit overturned the previous decision, saying the judge overstepped authority by intervening before it moved through the immigration court system

A federal appeals panel has reversed a lower court decision ordering the release of pro-Palestinian activist Mohsen Mahdawi, opening the door to the re-arrest of a student protest organizer whom the Trump administration has spent more than a year trying to deport.

Tuesday's ruling from the second US circuit court of appeals in New York City overturns a previous decision by a federal judge in Vermont, which likened the government's efforts to expel him and other activists to McCarthyist repression.