A Palestinian student actively involved in pro-Palestinian demonstrations at Columbia University, New York, has been arrested by US immigration officers, The Indian Express reports.
Mahmoud Khalil, a graduate student at Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs who grew up in a Palestinian refugee camp in Syria and worked for the British embassy in Beirut, was detained by the United States Department of Homeland Security at his university residence on Saturday, according to the Student Workers of Columbia union.
He holds a US green card and is married to an American citizen who is eight months pregnant. Khalil played a crucial role as a mediator between Columbia University administrators and student protesters, despite not being involved in the occupation of an academic building by demonstrators last year.
Hours before his arrest, he spoke to Reuters, expressing fears that he was being targeted for talking to the media. “They basically silenced anyone supporting Palestine on campus, and this was not enough,” he said, “Clearly Trump is using the protesters as a scapegoat for his wider agenda attacking higher education and Ivy League universities.”
His detention comes on the heels of the Trump administration’s decision to cancel government contracts and grants worth around Rs 3,300 crore ($400 million) from Columbia University, citing concerns over alleged antisemitism on campus.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio shared a news report about Khalil’s arrest on social media, stating, “We will be revoking the visas and/or green cards of Hamas supporters in America so they can be deported.”
According to The Indian Express, Khalil is currently being held at a United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention facility in Elizabeth, New Jersey. His lawyer has not issued a statement.
Rights groups, including the New York Civil Liberties Union, have condemned the arrest as “unlawful, retaliatory, and an attack on free speech.” Columbia University maintains its commitment to protecting the legal rights of its students but declined to comment on Khalil’s case due to privacy laws.
Meanwhile, the Student Workers of Columbia union criticised the university for “surrendering to the Trump administration’s assault on universities and sacrificing international students to protect its finances.”
