A Columbia Palestinian student who was heavily involved in the pro-Hamas protests last year was just arrested by ICE and will be deported.
The student, Mahmoud Khalil, was a ‘negotiator’ with Columbia last year after pro-Hamas protests broke out on the campus. A permanent resident he was, but now that’s being revoked on the orders of Secretary Rubio.
Here’s more from the AP:
Federal immigration authorities arrested a Palestinian graduate student who played a prominent role in last spring’s anti-Israel protests at Columbia University, according to his attorney.
Mahmoud Khalil was inside his university-owned residence Saturday night near Columbia’s Manhattan campus when several Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents entered the building and took him into custody, his attorney, Amy Greer, told The Associated Press.
Greer said she spoke by phone with one of the ICE agents during the arrest, who said they were acting on State Department orders to revoke Khalil’s student visa. Informed by the attorney that Khalil was in the United States as a permanent resident with a green card, the agent said they were revoking that too, according to the lawyer.
The arrest appeared to be among the first known actions under President Donald Trump’s pledge to deport international students who joined the protests against Israel’s war in Gaza that swept college campuses last spring. His administration has claimed participants forfeited their rights to remain in the country by supporting Hamas, a terror organization.
Khalil served as a negotiator for students as they bargained with university officials over an end to the tent encampment erected on campus, a role that made him one of the few student activists willing to share his name and identity.
The authorities declined to tell Khalil’s wife, who is eight months pregnant, whether he was accused of committing a crime, Greer said. Khalil has since been transferred to an immigration detention facility in Elizabeth, New Jersey.
“We have not been able to get any more details about why he is being detained,” Greer told the AP. “This is a clear escalation. The administration is following through on its threats.”
Excellent news. More of this!