NEW YORK (AP) — Federal immigration authorities arrested a Palestinian activist Saturday who performed a distinguished position in Columbia College’s protests against Israel, a big escalation within the Trump administration’s pledge to detain and deport pupil activists.
Mahmoud Khalil, a graduate pupil at Columbia till this previous December, was inside his university-owned residence Saturday night time when a number of Immigration and Customs Enforcement brokers entered and took him into custody, his lawyer, Amy Greer, advised The Related Press.
Greer stated she spoke by cellphone with one of many ICE brokers throughout the arrest, who stated they had been performing on State Division orders to revoke Khalil’s pupil visa. Knowledgeable by the lawyer that Khalil was in the USA as a everlasting resident with a inexperienced card, the agent stated they had been revoking that as an alternative, based on the lawyer.
A spokesperson for the Division of Homeland Safety, Tricia McLaughlin, confirmed Khalil’s arrest in a press release Sunday, describing it as being “in help of President Trump’s government orders prohibiting anti-Semitism.”
AP correspondent Julie Walker reviews ICE arrests a Palestinian activist who helped lead Columbia College protests.
Khalil’s arrest is the primary publicly identified deportation effort beneath Trump’s promised crackdown on college students who joined protests in opposition to the struggle in Gaza that swept school campuses final spring. The administration has claimed individuals forfeited their rights to stay within the nation by supporting Hamas.
McLaughlin signaled the arrest was instantly linked to Khalil’s position within the protests, alleging he “led actions aligned to Hamas, a chosen terrorist group.”
As ICE brokers arrived at Khalil’s Manhattan residence Saturday night time, in addition they threatened to arrest Khalil’s spouse, an American citizen who’s eight months pregnant, Greer stated.
Khalil’s lawyer stated they had been initially knowledgeable that he was being held at an immigration detention facility in Elizabeth, New Jersey. However when his spouse tried to go to Sunday, she discovered he was not there. Greer stated she nonetheless didn’t know Khalil’s whereabouts as of Sunday night time.
“We now have not been in a position to get any extra particulars about why he’s being detained,” Greer advised the AP. “It is a clear escalation. The administration is following by way of on its threats.”
A Columbia College spokesperson stated regulation enforcement brokers should produce a warrant earlier than coming into college property, however declined to say if the varsity had acquired one forward of Khalil’s arrest. The spokesperson declined to touch upon Khalil’s detention.
In a message shared on X Sunday night, Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated the administration “will probably be revoking the visas and/or inexperienced playing cards of Hamas supporters in America to allow them to be deported.”
The Division of Homeland Safety can provoke deportation proceedings in opposition to inexperienced card holders for a broad vary of alleged prison exercise, together with supporting a terror group. However the detention of a authorized everlasting resident who has not been charged with a criminal offense marked a rare transfer with an unsure authorized basis, based on immigration consultants.
“This has the looks of a retaliatory motion in opposition to somebody who expressed an opinion the Trump administration didn’t like,” stated Camille Mackler, founding father of Immigrant ARC, a coalition of authorized service suppliers in New York.
Khalil, who acquired his grasp’s diploma from Columbia’s college of worldwide affairs final semester, served as a negotiator for college kids as they bargained with college officers over an finish to the tent encampment erected on campus final spring.
The position made him one of the seen activists in help of the motion, prompting calls from pro-Israel activists in latest weeks for the Trump administration to start deportation proceedings in opposition to him.
Khalil was additionally amongst these under investigation by a new Columbia University office that has introduced disciplinary fees in opposition to dozens of scholars for his or her pro-Palestinian activism, based on data shared with the AP.
The investigations come because the Trump administration has followed through on its threat to chop a whole bunch of thousands and thousands of {dollars} in funding to Columbia due to what the federal government describes because the Ivy League college’s failure to squelch antisemitism on campus.
The college’s allegations in opposition to Khalil centered on his involvement within the Columbia College Apartheid Divest group. He confronted sanctions for doubtlessly serving to to arrange an “unauthorized marching occasion” wherein individuals glorified Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, assault and taking part in a “substantial position” within the circulation of social media posts criticizing Zionism, amongst different acts of alleged discrimination.
“I’ve round 13 allegations in opposition to me, most of them are social media posts that I had nothing to do with,” Khalil advised the AP final week.
“They simply need to present Congress and right-wing politicians that they’re doing one thing, whatever the stakes for college kids,” he added. “It’s primarily an workplace to sit back pro-Palestine speech.”
