By JAKE OFFENHARTZ
NEW YORK (AP) — Federal immigration authorities arrested a Palestinian graduate scholar who performed a distinguished position in final spring’s anti-Israel protests at Columbia College, in keeping with his legal professional.
Mahmoud Khalil was inside his university-owned residence Saturday night time close to Columbia’s Manhattan campus when a number of Immigration and Customs Enforcement brokers entered the constructing and took him into custody, his legal professional, Amy Greer, advised The Related Press.
Greer stated she spoke by telephone with one of many ICE brokers in the course of the arrest, who stated they had been performing on State Division orders to revoke Khalil’s scholar visa. Knowledgeable by the legal professional that Khalil was in the US as a everlasting resident with a inexperienced card, the agent stated they had been revoking that too, in keeping with the lawyer.
The arrest seemed to be among the many first recognized actions underneath President Donald Trump’s pledge to deport worldwide college students who joined the protests in opposition to Israel’s struggle in Gaza that swept school campuses final spring. His administration has claimed individuals forfeited their rights to stay within the nation by supporting Hamas, a terror group.
Selcuk Acar/Anadolu through Getty Photos
Columbia scholar Mahmoud Khalil talks to the press throughout a briefing organized by Professional-Palestinian protesters who arrange a brand new encampment on the college’s Morningside Heights campus on June 1, 2024. (Picture by Selcuk Acar/Anadolu through Getty Photos)
Khalil served as a negotiator for college kids as they bargained with college officers over an finish to the tent encampment erected on campus, a job that made him one of many few scholar activists prepared to share his identify and identification.
The authorities declined to inform Khalil’s spouse, who’s eight months pregnant, whether or not he was accused of committing against the law, Greer stated. Khalil has since been transferred to an immigration detention facility in Elizabeth, New Jersey.
“We have not been able to get any more details about why he is being detained,” Greer advised the AP. “This is a clear escalation. The administration is following through on its threats.”
A Columbia spokesperson stated legislation enforcement brokers should produce a warrant earlier than getting into college property, however declined to say if the college had obtained one forward of Khalil’s arrest. The spokesperson additionally declined to touch upon Khalil’s detention.
Barry Williams for New York Each day Information
NYPD officers make arrests of Professional-Palestinian protestors on the garden of Columbia College on April 18, 2024. (Barry Williams for New York Each day Information)
Messages looking for remark had been left with the State Division, the Division of Homeland Safety and ICE.
The Division of Homeland Safety can provoke deportation proceedings in opposition to inexperienced card holders for a broad vary alleged felony exercise, together with supporting a terror group. It will finally be as much as an immigration choose to revoke somebody’s everlasting resident standing, in keeping with Camille Mackler, founding father of Immigrant ARC, a coalition of authorized service suppliers in New York.
“This has the appearance of a retaliatory action against someone who expressed an opinion the Trump administration didn’t like,” Mackler stated.
Khalil was amongst these investigated by a brand new Columbia College workplace that has introduced disciplinary fees in opposition to dozens of scholars who’ve expressed criticism of Israel, in keeping with data shared with the AP.
These investigations come because the Trump administration has ramped up scrutiny on Columbia due to what the federal government describes because the Ivy League faculty’s failure to squelch antisemitism on campus. On Friday, federal businesses introduced they might be slicing $400 million in grants and contracts from the college.
The allegation in opposition to Khalil centered on his involvement within the Columbia College Apartheid Divest group, claiming he had helped manage an “unauthorized marching event” that glorified Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, assault and performed a “substantial role” within the circulation of social media posts criticizing Zionism.
“I have around 13 allegations against me, most of them are social media posts that I had nothing to do with,” Khalil advised the AP final week.
“They just want to show Congress and rightwing politicians that they’re doing something, regardless of the stakes for students,” he added. “It’s mainly an office to chill pro-Palestine speech.”
Initially Revealed: March 9, 2025 at 2:37 PM EDT
