US Court Pauses Deportation Of Arrested Pro-Palestine Columbia Student, Trump Says His Arrest 'First Of Many'
With Trump's latest crackdown on Columbia University students who were in pro-Palestinian protests, US Immigration arrested Mahmoud Khalil. Trump says that these protests were antisemitic.
US Immigration arrested a Palestinian graduate who played a vital role in the pro-Palestinian protests at New York’s Columbia University as a part of President Donald Trump's crackdown on some anti-Israel activists on Sunday.
US Department of Homeland Security agents arrested Mahmoud Khalil, a student at the university's School of International and Public Affairs, from his university residence on Saturday evening, the Student Workers of Columbia labour union said in a statement as per Reuters. The Department of Homeland Security said in a social media post that it had arrested Khalil because he has "led activities aligned to Hamas," without elaborating.
Khalil has a wife, a US citizen, who is eight months pregnant. He also holds a US permanent residency green card. His arrest was condemned by civil rights groups, who called it an attack on protected political speech.
Khalil describes it as an anti-war movement that includes Jewish students and groups who reject allegations of antisemitism, as per Reuters. As one of the lead negotiators with school administrators, he represented pro-Palestinian student protesters—some of whom set up tent encampments on Columbia’s lawns last year and briefly took control of an academic building before police were called in to arrest them.
He was not among the several dozen students who occupied the building but served as a mediator between Columbia's vice provosts and the protesters.
Khalil is not accused of giving material support to Hamas or of any other crime.
US judge stops deportation
On Monday, a US judge ordered Khalil not to be deported for now and set a court hearing in the case for Wednesday. US District Court Judge Jesse Furman has halted Khalil's deportation "unless and until the Court orders otherwise."
Meanwhile, Khalil's lawyers have urged Furman to order his return to New York, accusing the government of attempting to restrict his access to legal counsel by relocating him far from the city.
According to Reuters, Khalil was moved to a federal jail for migrants in Louisiana to await deportation proceedings, as per his lawyers and a US detainee database.
Trump promises more arrests
His detention is one of the first efforts by Trump to fulfil his promise to seek the deportation of some foreign students involved in the pro-Palestinian protest movement, which he has called antisemitic.
Following his arrest, Trump said on a Truth Social post that there would be arrests, “We know there are more students at Columbia and other Universities across the Country who have engaged in pro-terrorist, anti-Semitic, anti-American activity, and the Trump Administration will not tolerate it.” He said many of them were not students but “paid agitators”.
“We will find, apprehend, and deport these terrorist sympathizers from our country — never to return again”.
Some Israeli and Jewish students have described the protests as threatening and disruptive, organising pro-Israel counter-protests in response.
Mahmoud Khalil
He grew up in a Palestinian refugee camp in Syria and has worked for the British embassy in Beirut, as per Reuters. On Sunday, he was held at a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center in Elizabeth, New Jersey.
A spokesperson for Columbia said the school was barred by law from sharing information about individual students but said in a statement that the school was "committed to the legal rights of our students."
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Fund cut warns to US universities
The Education Department sent letters to 60 US universities, including Harvard, Columbia, Yale and four University of California schools, which warned them of cuts in federal funding unless they addressed allegations of antisemitism on campus.
Even before Khalil's arrest, students reported seeing federal immigration agents around student housing near Columbia’s Manhattan campus since Thursday. This was a day before the Trump administration announced the cancellation of $400 million in federal grants and contracts to the school, citing alleged antisemitic harassment on and around campus.
According to the Student Workers of Columbia labour union, federal agents have also attempted to detain at least one other international student. However, spokespersons for DHS and ICE declined to comment on the union's claims, as per the report.
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