- ICE arrests Columbia student Mahmoud Khalil over pro-Palestinian activism.
- Trump administration escalates crackdown on student protesters.
- Rights groups warn of threats to free speech and political dissent.
US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents have arrested Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian graduate student at Columbia University, known for his involvement in last year’s pro-Palestinian protests on campus, according to the university’s student workers’ union.
Khalil, a student at Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs, was taken into custody at his university residence on Saturday.
The union stated that he holds a US permanent residency (green card) and is married to a US citizen, yet he remains in detention. His wife, who is eight months pregnant, has not been provided with information on the reason for his arrest.
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Khalil’s lawyer, Amy Greer, said that ICE agents claimed they were revoking his student visa on orders from the State Department.
When informed that Khalil was a permanent resident, agents reportedly responded that his green card was also being revoked. Khalil has since been transferred to an immigration detention facility in Elizabeth, New Jersey.
The arrest appears to be one of the first actions under President Donald Trump’s policy to deport international students who participated in protests against Israel’s war in Gaza.
The administration has argued that such protesters have forfeited their right to remain in the US by supporting Hamas, which is designated a terrorist organisation by the US.
Khalil, an Algerian citizen of Palestinian origin, played a mediating role between Columbia’s administration and student protesters, who last year called for the university to divest from companies linked to Israel and demanded an end to the war that devastated Gaza, leaving nearly 50,000 Palestinians dead.
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The protests followed the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel, which killed at least 1,100 people and led to the Israeli military offensive in Gaza.
A ceasefire has been in place since January, but Israel has blocked humanitarian aid since March 1, drawing condemnation from rights groups. Meanwhile, negotiations for a new truce are set to resume in Doha on Monday.
