The federal immigration authorities arrested Saturday of the Palestinian activist, who played a significant role in the protests of the University of Columbia against Israel, a significant escalation in the promise of Trump's administration to stop and deport student activists.
Mahmoud Khalil, a graduate in Colombia until December, was in his university apartment on Saturday evening, when several immigration and customs agents (ICE) came and took him to custody, his lawyer, Amy Greer, said The Associated Press.
Greer said that she talked by phone with one of the ICE agents during the arrest, who said they were acting on the orders of the State Department to cancel Khalil's student visa. The lawyer was informed that Khalil was in the United States as a permanent resident of the Green Card, the agent said that according to the lawyer he dismisses it.
A spokesman for the Internal Security Department, Tricia McLaughlin, confirmed Khalil's arrest on Sunday, describing them as “the support of the executive orders of President Trump prohibiting anti -Semitism.”
The arrest of Khalil is the first publicly known deportation effort under Trump's promised repression towards students who joined the protests against the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, which announced university campuses last spring. The administration claimed that the participants had lost their rights to stay in the country by supporting Hamas.
McLaughlin signaled that the arrest was directly related to the role of Khalil in protests, claiming that “he managed actions adapted to Hamas, a designated terrorist organization.”
When Ice Agents came to Khalil's residence in Manhattan on Saturday evening, they also threatened to arrest his wife Khalil, an American citizen who is in eight months of pregnancy, said Greer.
Lawyer, wife does not know the current location of Khalil
Khalil's lawyer said that they were initially informed, that he was detained in an immigration institution in Elizabeth, NJ, but when his wife tried to visit Sunday, she learned that he was not there. Greer said that she still did not know Khalil's whereabouts from Sunday evening.
“We were not able to get more details about why it is stopped,” said Greer AP. “This is a clear escalation. The administration follows threats. “
A spokesman for the University of Columbia said that law enforcement agents must issue an order before entering the university real estate, but refused to determine whether the school received one before Khalil's arrest. The spokesman refused to comment on Khalil's detention.
In a message made available on Sunday evening, the X Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that the administration “will cancel visas and/or green cards of Hamas supporters in America so that they can be deported.”
The Internal Security Department may initiate proceedings regarding deportation against green card holders for a wide range of alleged criminal activity, including supporting the terrorist group. But the detention of a legal permanent resident who was not accused of a crime meant an unusual movement of the uncertain legal foundation, according to immigration experts.
Arrested for “expressing opinions”
“This has the appearance of retaliation against someone who has expressed an opinion that Trump's administration does not like,” said Camille Mackler, founder of ARC immigrants, a coalition of legal service providers in New York.
Khalil, who obtained a master's degree in Columbia's School of International Affairs last semester, was a student negotiator when they expected university officials at the cash register of a tent camp erected at the campus last spring.
This role made him one of the most visible activists supporting the movement, which prompted the calls of pro-Israeli activists in recent weeks, so that the Trump administration would begin proceedings against him.
Khalil was also among the people examined by the new office of the University of Columbia, which brought disciplinary accusations against dozens of students for their pro-Palestinian activism, in accordance with the acts made available to The Associated Press.
Investigations appear when the Trump administration followed the threat of limiting hundreds of millions of dollars of financing to Colombia because of what the government describes as the lack of school in Ivy League in the campus.
The university's allegations against Khalil focused on his involvement in the Apartheid group in Columbia University. In the face of sanctions, it potentially helped organize the “unauthorized march event”, in which participants are accused of praising Hamas of October 7, 2023, attack and playing a “important role” in the circulation of positions in social media criticizing Zionism, among other acts of alleged discrimination.
“I have about 13 allegations against me, most of them are posts on social media with whom I had nothing to do,” said Khalil in The Associated Press last week.
“They only want to show the Congress and right-wing politicians that they are doing something, regardless of the rate for students,” he added. “It is mainly an office to give up pro-Palestine speech.”