NEW YORK — A federal appeals panel on Tuesday overturned a lower court’s decision to release Columbia University and Palestinian activist Mohsen Mahdawi from immigration detention.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled 3-0 that a federal district judge in Vermont lacked the authority to let go of Mahdawi, deciding his case should have gone through the immigration courts first: “In immigration matters, our Constitution is clear: ‘The power to regulate immigration… has been entrusted by the Constitution to the political branches of the Federal Government.'”

Mahdawi, 35, a graduate student in Columbia’s international affairs and public policy school, was arrested last year at his U.S. citizenship interview, accusing Trump administration officials in a New York Times essay of having “effectively orchestrated a trap.” Born and raised in the West Bank, he participated in early student demonstrations at Columbia during the Gaza war, but took a step back as the protests came to a head in spring 2024, according to court filings.

Mahdawi was one of several international student activists put in deportation proceedings under President Donald Trump last year, sparking widespread protests and concerns about free speech.

“Today’s decision is a grave setback, although I am confident justice will ultimately prevail,” Mahdawi said in a statement, adding that it “risks turning the federal courts into instruments of politics rather than guardians of constitutional freedom.”

“By weakening the First Amendment and creating different tiers of rights for citizens and non-citizens, this ruling hands the government a dangerous power: the power to intimidate, censor, and punish dissent without meaningful restraint,” he added.

Spokespeople for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which governs ICE, did not immediately return a request for comment.

Mahdawi is a green card holder and has lived for more than a decade in the United States.

Last year, Mahdawi was held in ICE detention for over two weeks after the Trump administration deemed him a threat to American foreign policy. He alleged his arrest and deportation proceedings were retaliation for his advocacy for Palestinian rights, and that, even if he was ultimately freed, holding him in detention for free speech would have an irreversible effect.

The Vermont federal judge, Geoffrey Crawford, released Mahdawi on bail, ruling his lawyers would likely succeed in showing the government illegally targeted him on the basis of protected speech.

But the three-judge appeals panel — all appointees of Republican presidents, two of whom were nominated by Trump — said Congress has specifically prohibited the use of habeas corpus petitions to ask federal judges to intervene in immigration matters until the conclusion of that process.

Lawyers for Mahdawi said the decision does not go into effect immediately, and they would continue to appeal his case, during which the federal government cannot re-detain or deport the Columbia student.

Tuesday’s decision was the latest setback in Mahdawi’s push to remain in the United States. Earlier this year, an immigration judge terminated deportation proceedings against Mahdawi because the Trump administration failed to authenticate a memo that he was a foreign policy threat.

That judge, Nina Froes, was subsequently fired by the federal government, according to Mahdawi’s lawyers. The Trump administration appealed her decision, and a Trump-controlled immigration appeals board said Mahdawi was deportable and sent the case back down to a new immigration judge, who issued a removal order last month.

Mahdawi has appealed the latest removal order.

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