Join the Call to Free Mohsen Mahdawi
At The Gentle Law, we are committed to compassion, dignity, and justice for all sentient beings. Today, we join the growing chorus of Buddhist communities, human rights organizations, and individuals of conscience in calling for the immediate release of Mohsen Mahdawi.
On Monday, April 14, 2025, United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents detained Mohsen—a philosophy undergraduate at Columbia University and a legal permanent resident of the United States—during what was meant to be a routine and joyful milestone: his final citizenship interview at a U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) office in Burlington, Vermont.
Instead of taking the final step in becoming a citizen of the country he calls home, Mohsen was arrested by plainclothes officers affiliated with Homeland Security Investigations. No warning. No transparency. Just silence, confusion, and the cold machinery of fear.
We are especially moved to speak up because Mohsen is not only a student and a human being whose rights deserve protection: he is also one of us. A member of the Buddhist community, Mohsen has cultivated a path of inquiry, service, and inner peace. His detention is not just a legal injustice; it is a rupture in the moral fabric that holds our shared humanity together.
As Buddhists, we vow not to turn away from suffering. As practitioners and supporters of justice, we know that silence is not neutrality; it is complicity. The detainment of Mohsen Mahdawi amid an escalating climate of discrimination and xenophobia is unacceptable. We believe no one should be punished for seeking a life of learning, for aspiring to belong, for walking a peaceful path.
We call on our broader community, sanghas, interfaith groups, educators, activists to join us in demanding:
The immediate release of Mohsen Mahdawi from ICE detention.
Transparency and accountability from Homeland Security and USCIS regarding the circumstances of his arrest.
Protection for students and legal residents who contribute meaningfully to our communities and deserve the full rights of due process.
The Buddha taught that hatred does not cease by hatred, but by love alone. In that spirit, let us act with fierce compassion and unwavering clarity.
May Mohsen be safe. May he be free.
May all beings live with dignity and without fear.
For further information and ways to support Mohsen Mahdawi: