Hundreds protest Trump administration arrest of Columbia student leader Mahmoud Khalil
Student Mahmoud Khalil helped lead pro-Palestinan protests at Columbia University. Trump said such protests made campuses unsafe for Jewish students.
- Mahmoud Khalil, a pro-Palestinian student protest leader, was arrested by ICE on accusations of aligning with Hamas.
- Khalil's supporters argue that his arrest is unjust and targets his First Amendment rights, while his detractors believe his protests incited violence against Jewish students.
- The Trump administration maintains that Khalil is a threat to national security and is pushing for his deportation despite his green card status.
NEW YORK − The ICE arrest of a pro-Palestinian student protest leader facing deportation is bringing new attention to President Donald Trump's vow to target people he calls anti-American.
ICE agents arrested Mahmoud Khalil on Saturday on accusations that he led activities aligned with Hamas, a designated terrorist organization. Khalil's attorneys said he is a green card holder married to an American citizen, and are challenging the validity of the arrest and detention. ICE records show he's being held in Louisiana.
Several hundred of Khalil's supporters called for his release during a rally in New York City on Tuesday afternoon.
Who is protest leader Mahmoud Khalil?
Born in a Syrian refugee camp, Khalil has talked about his Palestinian heritage and was a major figure during last spring and summer's protests on the Columbia University campus in New York City. The protests included occupation of classrooms and a large tent encampment and criticized Israel for attacking Gaza in retaliation for the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks.
Many university campuses also saw similar protests, which also criticized the Biden administration for not doing more to stop Israel's attacks on Gaza, with some participants calling it a genocide.
During the protests, Khalil acted as a lead negotiator for student protesters calling on the university to cut ties with Israel amid the war in Gaza, end student-exchange programs and close Columbia's campus in Tel Aviv, as well as financial transparency on the school’s investments. Demonstrators had also demanded amnesty for students and faculty disciplined or arrested during protests.
Closed-door talks between protesters and the university quickly devolved, with some protesters then occupying a university building and, eventually, the university calling on New York City police to enter campus and conduct mass arrests.
Because he was the visible face of the protest, Khalil said he has been "doxed" by right-wing figures aligned with Trump. According to his attorney, he repeatedly asked Columbia for protection after being subject to a "vicious and dehumanizing" campaign by those figures, who called him a terrorist and demanded his deportation.
Khalil is married to an American citizen, and holds a green card granting him permanent U.S. residency, his attorney said.
Last April, Khalil, then a graduate student at the School of International and Public Affairs, said he had initially been reluctant to speak out on behalf of Palestinian students over fears he could be deported. According to his LinkedIn profile, he was scheduled to have graduated in December with a Master's degree in Public Administration.
He was still living in university housing with his pregnant wife when he was detained by ICE, according to court records. As of Monday, he was being held in an ICE facility in Louisiana.
Why has Trump targeted Mahmoud Khalil?
During his campaign, Trump vowed to target student protesters that he said were guilty of anti-American and anti-Jewish actions and sentiment. He had also criticized university administrators nationally for not forcefully halting the student protests, which occasionally blocked traffic and created what many Jewish students felt was an unsafe environment.
"This is the first arrest of many to come," Trump said in a social media post celebrating Khalil's detention. "We will find apprehend and deport these terrorist supporters from our country - never to return again."
The official White House social media account on X reposted Trump's message under the heading "SHALOM, MAHMOUD." In Hebrew, the word "shalom" can be used as a greeting or a farewell. It was the same language Trump used in his "ultimatum" to Hamas last week.
Neither Trump nor ICE have offered specific evidence to support his contention that Khalil is aligned with Hamas.
Many conservatives aligned with Israel were particularly offended by the protest chant "globalize the intifada," which they interpret to mean encouraging violence against all Jews. Trump has repeatedly said he would use federal power to punish protests he feels cross the line from free speech, echoing his stance from the 2020 George Floyd protests.
In a statement, the Anti-Defamation League said it was closely watching Khalil's case. The ADL has been critical of universities for not doing more to combat antisemitism, and said it supports canceling some grants if that can force change.
ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt said he recently visited Columbia's campus where "I saw the Hamas propaganda literally handed out by masked hoodlums," he said in a social media post. "It's abominable to see how a minority of malevolent students, radicalized faculty and outside agitators have hijacked the school and diverted it away from its core purpose, preventing everyone else from studying, learning and working… They don’t want to talk with their Jewish peers; they prefer to terrorize them."
Why are some people upset about Mahmoud Khalil's detention?
As a green card holder, Khalil is entitled to many of the same rights as any other American citizen, with some caveats. While an American citizen can be criminally punished for breaking the law, a green card holder can lose that permanent residency for committing the same crime and face deportation.
Khalil's supporters argue that he has broken no laws, but instead is being targeted solely for his speech, which is a protected First Amendment right.
Khalil's arrest drew swift condemnation from the Council on American-Islamic Relations.
"The Department of Homeland Security's lawless decision to arrest him solely because of his peaceful anti-genocide activism represents a blatant attack on the First Amendment's guarantee of free speech, immigration laws, and the very humanity of Palestinians," CAIR said in a statement.
And 14 members of Congress on Tuesday sent a letter to the Trump administration criticizing the arrest: "Their illegal actions set a dangerous precedent. We cannot allow them to shred our constitutional rights to free speech and due process. Free Mahmoud Khalil," said Rep. Rashida Tlaib, a Michigan Democrat, in announcing the letter.
During the Tuesday afternoon rally, some of Khalil's supporters wore white-and-black keffiyehs as a symbol of solidarity with Palestinians, and waved Palestinian flags as they criticized his detention as a political prisoner. Others carried signs calling on New York University, City University and Columbia University to divest from what proponents called a genocide. Other signs said "Melt ICE."Columbia University declined to comment on Khalil's arrest.
What happens next for Mahmoud Khalil?
Attorneys for Khalil and the federal government are due in a New York City courtroom Wednesday to discuss his case. A federal judge on Monday blocked the Trump administration from deporting Khalil while the case is pending.
Khalil's supporters held a protest outside a federal facility in New York on Monday afternoon and are set to hold another rally Tuesday afternoon.
Trump is also targeting universities he says haven't done enough to protect Jewish students. His administration on Friday canceled $400 million in grants and contracts to Columbia over what federal officials said was the university's "continued inaction in the face of persistent harassment of Jewish students."
Trump Justice Department officials are investigating similar allegations at 59 other universities, including: George Washington University, Harvard University, Johns Hopkins University, New York University, Northwestern University, the University of California, Los Angeles, the University of California, Berkeley, the University of Minnesota and the University of Southern California.