Higher Court Overturns Decision That Freed Columbia Student Activist

A higher court on July 21, 2026 overturned a judge's 2025 order that had freed Mohsen Mahdawi from immigration detention — a place where non-citizens are held while the government tries to deport them. The judge had said Mahdawi had the same free speech rights as US citizens. But the higher court ruled only that the lower court lacked authority, not on the free speech question itself. Mahdawi, a legal resident charged with no crime, now faces deportation again.