A federal judge has issued a temporary block on the Trump administration’s attempt to deport Palestinian activist, Mahmoud Khalil, who was arrested by immigration agents over the weekend.
Khalil, a Columbia University graduate and permanent US resident, played a leading role in last year’s Gaza war protests on the Ivy League campus in New York City.
His arrest marks a new chapter in President Donald Trump’s ongoing pledge to crack down on pro-Palestinian protests on college campuses. The president described Khalil’s detention as “the first arrest of many to come.”
On Monday, protesters gathered in New York City to demand Khalil’s release and condemn the administration’s actions.
A crowd waving Palestinian flags converged on Foley Square in Lower Manhattan before marching toward city hall. At least one person was detained during the demonstration.
“We’re facing a horrifying reality that our own student, a member of the Columbia community, has become a political prisoner here in the United States,” Columbia University Professor Michael Thaddeus said in a statement.
Court documents indicate that Khalil is expected to appear at a hearing on Wednesday. According to his lawyer, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents informed him that his student visa and green card were being revoked upon his arrest on Saturday.
The Department of Homeland Security accused Khalil of “leading activities aligned to Hamas”, though it has not provided any supporting details. The BBC has requested further clarification from the agency.
Trump had previously stated that foreign students deemed “terrorist sympathisers” would face deportation. Khalil is the first publicly known detainee under this new policy. His lawyer, Amy Greer, described his detention as “terrible and inexcusable”, calling it part of “the US government’s open repression of student activism and political speech”.
Khalil, a Palestinian refugee born in Syria, has not been charged with any crime. ICE detained him at his university-owned Manhattan apartment before transferring him from a New Jersey immigration facility to a detention centre in Jena, Louisiana, according to ICE records.
His attorney further alleged that ICE agents threatened to arrest Khalil’s wife, an American citizen who is eight months pregnant. When she attempted to visit him in New Jersey, she was told he was no longer there.
Columbia University said law enforcement may enter campus property only with a warrant and denied inviting ICE agents onto university grounds.
On Sunday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio reaffirmed the administration’s stance, writing on X: “We will be revoking the visas and/or green cards of Hamas supporters in America so they can be deported.”
Last week, the Trump administration announced it was rescinding $400 million (£310m) in federal grants to Columbia University, accusing the institution of failing to address antisemitism on campus.
Columbia was the epicentre of last year’s nationwide wave of pro-Palestinian student protests against the Gaza war and US support for Israel. Khalil served as lead negotiator for Columbia University Apartheid Divest during the protests, when demonstrators set up a tent encampment on the university lawn.
He later told the BBC he had been temporarily suspended by the university, where he was a graduate student at the School of International and Public Affairs.
New York Civil Liberties Union President Donna Lieberman described the deportation attempt as “targeted retaliation and an extreme attack on the First Amendment.” New York Attorney General Letitia James said she was “extremely concerned” and monitoring the case.
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Some Jewish students at Columbia said protest rhetoric had at times crossed into antisemitism. The university cited such concerns when it announced a shift to fully remote classes through the end of the 2024 spring semester. However, others contested the allegations, and some Jewish students also took part in the pro-Palestinian protests.
Carly, a Jewish-American graduate student at Columbia and a friend of Khalil, rejected the accusations. She told the BBC the detainee was a “very, very caring soul”.
“He has been very targeted online and just seeing how he has been so misrepresented, it’s very painful, as someone who knows him on a personal level,” said Carly, who withheld her surname for privacy reasons.
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