Topline
The Department of Homeland Security has detained an activist who helped lead Columbia University’s pro-Palestinian protests last year, his attorney said Sunday, days after the Trump administration stripped funding from the university and President Donald Trump publicly threatened to arrest anyone who participates in “illegal protests” on college campuses.
Student negotiator Mahmoud Khalil at a pro-Palestinian protest encampment on the Columbia University … [+]
Key Facts
Mahmoud Khalil, who helped lead Columbia’s protests, was arrested by agents with Immigration and Customs Enforcement at his university-owned residence Saturday night, his attorney Amy Greer told the Associated Press.
Greer was told by ICE agents that Khalil had been detained because of orders from the State Department to revoke his student visa—which he doesn’t have, as he’s in the U.S. as a permanent resident—but when the lawyer said the activist was in the U.S. on a green card rather than a student visa, ICE agents said they would also revoke his green card, Greer told the AP.
Khalil is now being held at a detention center in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Greer told the AP, which reports federal agents have refused to tell the activist’s pregnant wife whether Khalil has been charged with a crime.
Khalil was born in Syria, according to the record of his detention on ICE’s website, and served as a key negotiator between students and university officials regarding the end of protesters’ tent encampment on Columbia’s campus last year, with the AP noting he was one of only a few students involved with the protests who publicly shared their name and identity.
His arrest comes days after the Trump administration announced it was pulling $400 million in federal funding from Columbia over the university’s purported failure to combat the pro-Palestinian protests, which critics decried for antisemitic incidents, with the Education Department citing the “continued inaction in the face of persistent harassment of Jewish students.”
Columbia said Sunday it was aware of “reports of ICE around campus” and the school is “follow[ing] the law,” noting its policy is that “law enforcement must have a judicial warrant to enter non-public University areas, including University buildings”—though the school declined to tell the AP whether a warrant had been granted regarding Khalil’s arrest.
Crucial Quote
Khalil’s arrest comes after Trump threatened last week that “all federal funding will STOP for any College, School or University that allows illegal protests.” “Agitators will be imprisoned/or permanently sent back to the country from which they came,” the president wrote on Truth Social on Tuesday. “American students will be permanently expelled or, depending on the crime, arrested. NO MASKS!” (The White House has not provided clarity on what would constitute an “illegal protest,” given the First Amendment rights to freedom of speech and freedom of assembly.)
What Has Columbia Accused Mahmoud Khalil Of?
Prior to his arrest, Khalil was reportedly one of several students that Columbia was investigating internally over their role in the pro-Palestinian protests, the AP reported last week. Khalil told the AP that the school had levied approximately 13 allegations against him, which he claimed were primarily for “social media posts that I had nothing to do with.” Khalil said Columbia had also threatened to block his transcript and stop him from graduating after he refused to sign a non-disclosure agreement, before his attorney appealed the decision. Columbia “just want[s]
to show Congress and right-wing politicians that they’re doing something, regardless of the stakes for students,” Khalil told the AP, describing the investigations as efforts “to chill pro-Palestine speech.”
What To Watch For
Unrest may be rising again at Columbia over how the school is responding to its pro-Palestinian activists. The AP reported in late February that protesters demanding “amnesty” for those disciplined for pro-Palestinian protests had forced their way into a building at Barnard College—an all-female liberal arts college within Columbia—and allegedly assaulted a school employee. Student-led group Columbia Students for Justice in Palestine said on X that public safety officials had “HARASSED AND SHOVED SEVERAL STUDENTS, KNOCKING AT LEAST ONE TO THE GROUND.” “WE WILL NOT STOP UNTIL OUR DEMANDS ARE MET,” the student group posted on Feb. 26, announcing a series of demonstrations and other protest actions at the school in the weeks since.
Key Background
Columbia was the epicenter of the pro-Palestinian protests that took place on college campuses last year, leading to a widely publicized clash between university leadership and activists. Student activists occupied university buildings and created a tent encampment on the school’s campus that resulted in action from the New York Police Department and Columbia suspending students who refused to disburse. Columbia president Minouche Shafik later resigned from her position in August—one of several university leaders who stepped down amid the protests—saying her tenure had been “a period of turmoil where it has been difficult to overcome divergent views across our community.” Republicans have harshly criticized the protests as fueling antisemitism on college campuses, and a Columbia University task force said in an August report that Jewish students at the school had felt “ostracized” on the school’s campus amid the demonstrations and felt their concerns were being ignored by school officials. In addition to the action by the Trump administration, the Republican-led House Education Committee sent a letter in February to Columbia’s president and trustees chastising the school for its alleged “failure to address the pervasive antisemitism that persists on campus” and demanding documents related to the protests.
Further Reading
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