Federal immigration officials have detained Mahmoud Khalil, a ringleader in Columbia University’s pro-Palestinian, pro-Hamas student movement.
Khalil, a legal U.S. permanent resident and recent graduate of Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs, was arrested on Saturday. His attorney, Amy Greer, denounced the arrest as a calculated violation of his rights and pledged to challenge it in court. She accused the administration of targeting Khalil for his political speech and vowed to fight for his legal protection, according to NPR.
Khalil had played a significant role in the protests that overtook Columbia last year in response to the war in Gaza. As a negotiator and spokesperson for Columbia University Apartheid Divest, an organization calling for the university to sever financial ties with companies linked to Israel, he became a focal point in the administration’s broader effort to curb pro-Palestinian demonstrations.
2/ Khalil wasn’t just another protester. He was a ringleader of the chaos at @Columbia .
Here he is acting as
1. spokesperson for Hamilton Hall takeover
2. ringleader at Milstein Hall occupation
3. distributed materials supporting terrorism pic.twitter.com/LPghHkW6A2— Columbia Jewish Alumni Assoc. (@CU_JewishAlumni) March 9, 2025
President Trump has vowed to take action against what he describes as antisemitic activities on college campuses, instructing federal agencies to investigate universities that, in his view, fail to protect Jewish students. Columbia University has emerged as the primary target of this initiative. Last Friday, the administration announced it would cancel $400 million in federal grants and contracts to the institution. In a recent social media post, Trump threatened to impose severe consequences on student activists, including deportation for non-citizens and potential criminal charges for U.S. citizens involved in such protests. He stated that all federal funding would be halted for any educational institution that permits what he labeled as illegal demonstrations.
Despite holding a green card, Khalil was reportedly informed by immigration officials that his student visa had been revoked, a justification that legal experts argue is legally dubious. Elora Mukherjee, director of Columbia Law School’s Immigrants’ Rights Clinic, noted that revoking permanent residency without criminal charges is highly unusual and raises serious constitutional concerns. If Khalil’s arrest was in retaliation for his political speech, she argued, it would represent a clear violation of First Amendment protections.
The Department of Homeland Security defended the arrest, citing executive orders related to combating antisemitism. Secretary of State Marco Rubio reinforced this position, asserting that the administration would take action to revoke the visas and residency status of individuals it deems supportive of Hamas.
We will be revoking the visas and/or green cards of Hamas supporters in America so they can be deported https://t.co/oKba2Mmi3C
— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) March 9, 2025
The anti-Israel activist’s detention has provoked a backlash from civil liberties groups, immigration advocates, and some elected officials. Donna Lieberman, executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union, likened the situation to McCarthy-era tactics, calling it an alarming expansion of government suppression of pro-Palestinian speech. Queens Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani described the arrest as an assault on the First Amendment and an indication of growing authoritarianism. The New York Immigration Coalition similarly condemned the move as unconstitutional.
In 2024, the group Khalil represents attacked a university building at Columbia University, leading one outlet to claim that the Ivy League institution had been “conquered.” To defend their actions, the university president claimed that their students did not know how to spell.
With legal proceedings expected in the coming weeks, Khalil’s case could serve as a critical test of the government’s ability to apply immigration laws against political activists.
[Read More: Pro-Palestine Activists Attack Trump Property]
