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Pompeo Inks Deal for US Troop Move From Germany to Poland

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, left, and Poland's Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki pose for the media prior to a meeting at the Chancellery in Warsaw, Poland, Saturday Aug. 15, 2020. Pompeo is on a five day visit to central Europe. (Janek Skarzynski/Pool via AP)
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, left, and Poland's Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki pose for the media prior to a meeting at the Chancellery in Warsaw, Poland, Saturday Aug. 15, 2020. Pompeo is on a five day visit to central Europe. (Janek Skarzynski/Pool via AP)
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Pompeo Inks Deal for US Troop Move From Germany to Poland

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, left, and Poland's Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki pose for the media prior to a meeting at the Chancellery in Warsaw, Poland, Saturday Aug. 15, 2020. Pompeo is on a five day visit to central Europe. (Janek Skarzynski/Pool via AP)
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, left, and Poland's Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki pose for the media prior to a meeting at the Chancellery in Warsaw, Poland, Saturday Aug. 15, 2020. Pompeo is on a five day visit to central Europe. (Janek Skarzynski/Pool via AP)

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Saturday sealed a defense cooperation deal with Polish officials that will pave the way for the redeployment of American troops from Germany to Poland.

In Warsaw at the end of a four-nation tour of central and eastern Europe, Pompeo and Polish Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak signed an Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement that sets out the legal framework for the additional troop presence.

"This is going to be an extended guarantee: a guarantee that in case of a threat our soldiers are going to stand arm-in-arm," Poland's President Andrzej Duda said during the signing ceremony. "It will also serve to increase the security of other countries in our part of Europe," Duda said.

The deal would also further other aspects of US-Polish cooperation, he added, citing primarily investment and trade ties.

The pact supplements an existing NATO Status of Forces Agreement and allows for the enhancement and modernization of existing capabilities and facilities by allowing US forces to access additional Polish military installations. It also sets out a formula for sharing the logistical and infrastructure costs of an expanded US presence in the country.

Some 4,500 US troops are currently based in Poland, but about 1,000 more are to be added, under a bilateral decision announced last year. Last month, in line with President Donald Trump's demand to reduce troop numbers in Germany, the Pentagon announced that some 12,000 troops would be withdrawn from Germany with about 5,600 moving to other countries in Europe, including Poland.

In addition, several US military commands will be moved out of Germany, including the US Army V Corps overseas headquarters that will relocate to Poland next year.

Trump has long and loudly complained that Germany does not spend enough on defense and has repeatedly accused Germany of failing to pay NATO bills, which is a misstatement of the issue. NATO nations have pledged to dedicate 2% of their gross domestic product.

Saturday's signing came just a day after the Trump administration suffered an embarrassing diplomatic loss at the United Nations when its proposal to indefinitely extend an arms embargo on Iran was soundly defeated in a UN Security Council vote that saw only one countryside with the US Pompeo will visit that country, the Dominican Republic, on Sunday for the inauguration of its new president.

Pompeo has used his Europe trip to warn the region's young democracies about threats posed by Russia and China and has received a warm welcome. In Poland, the reception was particularly kind given the friendship between Trump and conservative Polish President Duda, who was sworn in for a second five-year term earlier this month after a hotly contested election.

Many of Duda's Law and Justice party´s policies have put Poland at odds with the European Union, which is concerned that government efforts to reshape the judiciary and other actions have eroded the rule of law and democracy in the EU member country.

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Palestinian Student Remains Detained in Vermont with a Hearing Set for Next Week

Mohsen Mahdawi speaks at a protest on the Columbia University campus on November 9, 2023 in New York City. (Getty Images via AFP)
Mohsen Mahdawi speaks at a protest on the Columbia University campus on November 9, 2023 in New York City. (Getty Images via AFP)
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Palestinian Student Remains Detained in Vermont with a Hearing Set for Next Week

Mohsen Mahdawi speaks at a protest on the Columbia University campus on November 9, 2023 in New York City. (Getty Images via AFP)
Mohsen Mahdawi speaks at a protest on the Columbia University campus on November 9, 2023 in New York City. (Getty Images via AFP)

A large crowd of supporters and advocates gathered outside a Vermont courthouse Wednesday to support a Palestinian man who led protests against the war in Gaza as a student at Columbia University and was arrested during an interview about finalizing his US citizenship.

Mohsen Mahdawi, a legal permanent resident for 10 years, was arrested April 14 at the US Citizenship and Immigration Services office in Colchester, Vermont, by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. He made an initial court appearance Wednesday during which a judge extended a temporary order keeping Mahdawi in Vermont and scheduled a hearing for next week.

Mahdawi’s lawyers say he was detained in retaliation for his speech advocating for Palestinian human rights.

“What the government provided thus far only establishes that the only basis they have to currently detaining him in the manner they did is his lawful speech,” attorney Luna Droubi said after the hearing. “We intend on being back in one week's time to free Mohsen."

In court documents, the government argues that Mahdawi's detention is a “constitutionally valid aspect of the deportation process” and that district courts are barred from hearing challenges to how and when such proceedings are begun.

“District courts play no role in that process. Consequently, this Court lacks jurisdiction over Petitioner’s claims, which are all, at bottom, challenges to removal proceedings,” wrote Michael Drescher, Vermont’s acting US attorney.

According to his lawyers, Mahdawi had attended his interview, answered questions and signed a document that he was willing to defend the US Constitution and laws of the nation.

“It was a trap,” his lawyers said.

They said masked ICE agents entered the interview room, shackled Mahdawi, and put him in a car. A judge later issued an order barring the government from removing him from the state or country.

“What we’re seeing here is unprecedented where they are so hellbent on detaining students from good universities in our country,” attorney Cyrus Mehta said. “These are not hardened criminals. These are people who have not been charged with any crime, they have also not been charged under any of the other deportation provisions of the Immigration Act.”

Mahdawi is still scheduled for a hearing date in immigration court in Louisiana on May 1, his attorneys said. His notice to appear says he is removable under the Immigration and Nationality Act because the Secretary of State has determined his presence and activities "would have serious adverse foreign policy consequences and would compromise a compelling US foreign policy interest.”

Last month, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the State Department was revoking visas held by visitors who were acting counter to national interests, including some who protested Israel’s war in Gaza and those who face criminal charges.

According to the court filing, Mahdawi was born in a refugee camp in the West Bank and moved to the United States in 2014. He recently completed coursework at Columbia and was expected to graduate in May before beginning a master’s degree program there in the fall.

As a student, Mahdawi was an outspoken critic of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza and organized campus protests until March 2024.

US Sen. Peter Welch of Vermont, a Democrat, met with Mahdaw i on Monday at the prison and posted a video account of their conversation on X. Mahdawi said he was “in good hands." He said his work is centered on peacemaking and that his empathy extends beyond the Palestinian people to Jews and to the Israelis.

“I’m staying positive by reassuring myself in the ability of justice and the deep belief of democracy,” Mahdawi said in Welch’s video. “This is the reason I wanted to become a citizen of this country, because I believe in the principles of this country.”

Mahdawi's attorney read a statement from him outside the courthouse Wednesday in which he urged supporters to “stay positive and believe in the inevitability of justice.”

“This hearing is part of the system of democracy, it prevents a tyrant from having unchecked power,” he wrote. “I am in prison, but I am not imprisoned.”