Laila Kirkpatrick, Staff Writer
Federal immigration authorities have arrested a Palestinian activist who played a large part in organizing many of the protests against Israel at Columbia University. This is a major sign of escalation in the Trump administration’s plans to detain and deport student activists. Mahmoud Khalil was a graduate student of Columbia University until this past December. Khalil was inside his university-owned apartment on a Saturday night when several Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents entered and took him into custody. He is currently being held in the custody of ICE. His attorney Amy Greer said that she spoke with one of the ICE agents during the arrest and claimed that they were operating on orders from the State Department orders to revoke Khalil’s student visa.
A spokesperson from the Department of Homeland Security, Tricia McLaughlin confirmed that Khalil had been arrested in a statement on Sunday. Her statement described Khalifa’s arrest as being, “in support of President Trump’s executive orders prohibiting anti-semitism. Khalil’s arrest is the first publicly known deportation under Trump’s promised efforts to crack down on students who protested against the war in Gaza. The administration has claimed that participants in these protests forfeited their rights to remain in the country by supporting Hamas. McLaughlin signaled that the arrest was directly connected to Khalil’s role in protests alleging that he “led activities aligned to Hamas, a designated terrorist organization.”
