The student arrested at his naturalization interview knew it was coming
Mohsen Mahdawi had a feeling his naturalization appointment would go awry. A week before his meeting with US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), Mahdawi called his friend Chris Helali and told him he was concerned. âHe thought it was likely â and I agreed â that he would be arrested, that they would ambush him at this interview,â Helali tells The Verge. Mahdawi had been so fearful of being detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) that he had reportedly been in hiding for weeks. But Mahdawi couldnât miss the appointment. According to USCIS, âfailure to appear for a scheduled interviewâ almost always âresults in denialâ of a personâs application.
The interview was scheduled for 11AM on April 14th. Helali waited outside the building. âWe started to realize that something was amiss,â Helali says. Around noon, the group was told Mahdawi had been handcuffed. Three minutes later, he was escorted out of the building by two Department of Homeland Security officers. Helali captured the arrest, first reported by The Intercept, on video.
