By Guy Page
Editor’s note: This story has been updated from a version posted at noon today, and provides information from the judge’s order which was published yesterday afternoon, April 30.
Mohsen Mahdawi, the pro-Palestinian activist released on bail by a federal judge Geoffrey Crawford Wednesday, April 30, tried to buy a sniper rifle and machine gun from a Windsor firearms business 10 years ago, according to a 2015 report by a Windsor (Vermont) Police Department detective.
The judge said the FBI investigated the incident, and that the police report “does not support a finding of dangerousness.”
The report is part of the U.S. government’s April 28, 2025 case for opposing Mahdawi’s release. Also in the April 28 filing is a Jan. 19, 2019 U.S. Customs and Border Patrol describing Mohsen trying to return to the U.S. from Canada while in possession of personal use amounts of LSD and other illegal drugs. The filings are not available online on the federal court PACER system, but were available to be printed from the federal court public computer terminal – which VDC did Monday afternoon. For the readers reference, PDFs of the reports appear below.
The August 21, 2015 incident predates Mahdawi’s campus activism and embracing of Buddhism at Columbia University. The report depicts a man who witnesses say had significant firearms experience and spoke about killing Jews. And it happened just months after Mahdawi posted photos of male Palestinian relatives, including at least one carrying a rifle, who he says were killed in the struggle against Israel.
Ever since April 14, when immigration police detained Columbia University pro-Palestinian activist and part-time Windham County resident Mohsen Mahdawi in Colchester, his supporters (including both Sens. Peter Welch and Bernie Sanders, and Sens. Phil Baruth, Kesha Ram, and Becca White) have claimed the action violates his constitutional rights to free speech and due process. His many friends in the Upper Valley claim he is a force for peace, a bridge-builder. His release Wednesday was celebrated by supporters outside the courthouse, as was his post-release statement.
“I am saying it clear and loud to President Trump and his Cabinet: I am not afraid of you,” Mahdawi outside the Vermont courthouse after his release, according to NBC5 coverage.
VDC has reached out to Mahdawi and ACLU – VT lawyer Lia Ernst for comment. Another of Mahdawi’s ACLU lawyers issued the following statement, as reported in Vermont Business Magazine: “Mohsen is a ray of light in his communities, and we are so relieved that today he walked out those courtroom doors and back into the arms of his loved ones,” said Luna Droubi, partner of Beldock Levine & Hoffman LLP. “Their claims and actions are baseless, without evidence, and are a disgrace to the U.S. Constitution. We will keep fighting until Mohsen is free for good.”
But as Gov. Phil Scott said the week the Mahdawi story broke, “facts matter.” Who is Mohsen Mahdawi and why does the government want to deport him?
Since April 14, the government has said little about why it detained Mahdawi. But In a Monday, April 28 court filing in the civil lawsuit brought against the administration by Mahdawi and his phalanx of ACLU and other attorneys, the federal government offered its most complete explanation yet for holding and deporting him. In particular, it released two police reports: one from 2015, in which he reportedly sought to buy a sniper rifle and a machine gun, and another from 2019, in which he tried to bring small amounts of LSD, methamphetamines, and mushrooms across the border into the U.S..
Despite Wednesday’s federal court decision, Mahdawi still faces possible deportation. Due process for deporting Mahdawi began March 15 when Secretary of State Marco Rubio signed a statement of determination that Mahdawi “is a deportable alien…I understand that ICE now intends to initiate removal charges against him.”
A copy of Rubio’s statement is among the documents filed in the government’s April 28 response.
Rubio adds:
“I have determined that the activities and presence of this alien in the United States would have potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequence and would compromise a compelling U.S. foreign policy interest…
“Mahdawi, through his leadership and involvement in disruptive protests at Columbia University, has engaged in anti-Semitic conduct through leading pro-Palestinian protests and calling for Israel’s destruction. Mahdawi has been identified at those protests as having engaged in threatening rhetoric and intimidation of pro-Israeli bystanders.”
The two-page statement by Rubio does not cite specific anti-Semitic conduct, threats or intimidation. However, it alleges that Mahdawi’s activities threaten U.S. interests.
“The activities and presence of Mahdawi in the United States undermines U.S. policy to combat anti-Semitism around the world and in the United States, in addition to efforts to protect Jewish students from harassment and violence in the U.S…..Moreover, protests of the type led by Mahdawi potentially undermine the peace process underway in the Middle East by reinforcing anti-Semitic sentiment in the regional [sic] and thereby threatening the U.S. foreign policy goal of peacefully resolving the Gaza conflict.”
Supporters of Mahdawi, many already critical of the Trump administration’s immigration policies, say it’s more important to protect his free speech rights.
However, Mahdawi’s U.S. immigration history goes back more than 10 years. And early on, at least, he reportedly asked a firearms business owner if he could buy a sniper rifle and a machine gun.
This afternoon, VDC went to the federal clerk’s office in Burlington and obtained a copy of the government’s case against Mahdawi, including the Rubio statement. Included in that file were the Windsor PD report claiming Mohsen told a firearms business owner he wanted to buy guns and spoke of killing Jews. Also included is the 2019 U.S. Customs and Border Protect incident report showing Mahdawi tried to return to the U.S. from Canada with small amounts of LSD and other illegal drugs.
Windsor PD report on attempt to purchase sniper rifle, machine gun
The following is a lengthy, lightly-edited excerpt of the 2015 Windsor Police Department report by a detective identified as “C. Connor.”
“On 8/18/15 around 16 hours, I was on duty as a detective for the Windsor Police Department when Chief William Sampson came into the Detective’s office and told me that he had just talked to a concerned citizen who wanted to report some suspicious activity. Chief Sampson said this citizen was concerned because he had heard that a suspicious male subject had recently approached the owner of [redacted] Gunsmithing, located at 737 US Route 5S in Windsor about seeking employment at the gun shop.
“This concerned citizen told Chief Sampson that he had knowledge that this same suspicious male returned to the gun shop at a later date and had requested to purchase a sniper rifle and a machine gun.
“According to this concerned citizen, the suspicious male had taken photographs of the outside and inside of the gun shop. Also this citizen told Chief Sampson that the suspicious male subject told the MR that he used to make guns for “Hebvallah”. Chief Sampson asked me to make contact with MR in an attempt to verify this information.
“On 8/18/15 around 1800 hours I was out at Windsor Arms Custom Gunsmithing. I was met at the door by [redacted], who I know from previous law enforcement interactions. MR led me into his place of business, where I told him the reason for my visit. MR confirmed that the information related to Chief Sampson by the concerned citizen was true. The following are the facts as explained to me by MR.
“MR told me that sometime around two months ago, an adult male subject of middle eastern descent came into MR’s place of business. MR told me that this male explained that he was a resident of the town of Windsor and that he was interested in seeking employment here at the gun shop making guns and modifying guns. According to [redacted] this male even offered to work here for no monetary payment. This male subject supposedly told MR that he had considerable firearm experience and used to build modified 9MM submachine guns to kill Jews while he was in Palestine. MR told me that this male subject seemed to in fact have a lot of knowledge about gun design and function.
Mahdawi was known to Windsor PD because of a domestic dispute between him and his soon-to-be ex-wife at their Windsor home, according to a separate document filed April 28 by the government.
“MR told me that about three weeks ago this same male subject returned to Windsor Arms Custom Gunsmithing. MR told me that he has outside surveillance cameras outside his place of business. MR told me he was inside his place of business when he saw on his surveillance monitor that this suspicious male subject was outside taking pictures of MR’s gun shop.
“MR told me that he went outside to ask the man why he was taking photos. According to MR, the man told him that he was taking pictures that he planned to give to HR so that he could post them on Facebook. MR said that he invited the male into the gun shop where the male took photos of the inside of the business and the merchandise on display. According to MR this male subject never did provide him with copies of these photographs.
“MR now suspects this male was taking pictures for the purpose of reviewing what was in place for security cameras, the type of locks and security on the doors, and to detail merchandise in the business.
“MR told me that on the second visit, the male subject said that he wished to purchase a sniper rifle and a machine gun. MR told me that the male had not specified specific firearms for purchase nor had he shared his purpose or intent with these firearms.”
There’s more in the Windsor report (posted below), including another interview conducted by the same detective a few days later with another person. He recounts essentially the same story in a different venue (a gun museum): Mahdawi taking pictures of guns, asking about purchasing guns, making statements about killing Jews.
In his April 28 court ruling, Judge Crawford said the drug case was deal with through court diversion, and the record expunged. Mahdawi claimed the drugs were prescription drugs.
Judge Crawford’s opinion notes that an investigating FBI agent did not bring charges against Mahdawi, who claimed he didn’t make the statements attributed to him, and that he visited to gun shop to learn whether he had to register a gift of a Mossberg shotgun. As a former engineering student, he was interested in machiine tools. Government prosecutors this week agreed the matter was not pursued further, but was not settled.
Crawford concluded that “the court is satisfied that the information in the police report does not support a finding of dangerousness.”
What can we conclude from this?
As noted above, the Mohsen Mahdawi who police report was seeking a sniper rifle and a machine gun had yet to join the Buddhist Association at Columbia University. People, especially young people, do change and mature, often for the better. Is that what happened here – a young, Palestinian who found a path to inner peace and conflict resolution?
And if so, how heavily should that fact weigh in the government’s decision?
It’s a central question to be resolved by the due process Mahdawi is entitled to receive from the U.S. immigration system. As most observers have learned in the last few weeks, the specifics of due process differs for citizens and for border-jumpers and for every grade of immigration status between those two.
In the case of a green card-holding permanent resident like Mahdawi whose removal has been requested from the penultimate level (Rubio), Vermont criminal justice experts familiar with immigration law say that due process looks like a hearing before an administrative immigration judge.
This judge’s job is to give both the immigrant and the government a fair trial. Mahdawi will have ample opportunity to argue that deporting him violates federal law. The government will have similar opportunity to prove Mahdawi should be deported. Then the judge – who is statutorily required to be impartial – will then render his/her decision. Details of a judicial review process of that decision are unclear.
In recent years, and indeed in recent weeks, judicial impartiality has been severely questioned by Trump supporters and opponents. Vermonters, and indeed all Americans, can hope for a fair, legal decision for Mohsen Mahdawi.
The cover photo for this article is a screenshot from the YouTube video posted by Ali Hadji Jafari.
Documents from U.S. government April 28 filing to continue detaining Mahdawi are published below:
March 15, 2025 memo from Secretary of State Marco Rubio recommendation deportation of Mohsen Mahdawi
August, 2015 Windsor (VT) Police Department report outlining citizens’ report about Mohsen Mahdawi trying to buy a sniper rifle and a machine gun
