US Immigration and Customs Application (ICE) arrested a Palestinian graduate student who played a leading role in last year’s pro-Palestinian demonstrations at Columbia University in New York, the Student Syndicate said on Sunday.
The student, Mahmoud Khalil, at the University’s international and public affairs school was arrested on Saturday at his university residence, said the Student Workers of Columbia Union in a statement.
Khalil’s wife is an American citizen and he has a green card of permanent residence, said the union. He stayed in detention on Sunday. Khalil’s wife refused to comment on one of Khalil’s comrades.
Khalil’s lawyer Amy Greer told the Associated Press news agency that she spoke by telephone with one of the ice agents during the arrest, who said they were acting on the orders of the Department of State to revoke the Khalil student visa. Informed by the lawyer that Khalil was in the country as a permanent resident with a green card, the agent said that he also revoked this, according to the lawyer.
Greer said that the authorities refused to tell the wife of Khalil, who is eight months pregnant, if he was accused of having committed a crime. Khalil has since been transferred to an immigration detention center in Elizabeth, New Jersey.
“We were unable to get more details about the reasons why he is detained,” said Greer in the AP. “This is a clear escalation. The administration follows its threats. »»
The arrest seemed to be among the first actions known for the commitment of President Donald Trump to expel international students who joined the demonstrations against the War of Israel in Gaza which swept university campuses last year. Its administration said that participants have lost their rights to stay in the country by supporting Hamas, which is designated as a “terrorist” organization by the United States.
This decision was described as an attack on the freedoms of the first amendment.
Khalil, an Algerian citizen of Palestinian origin, was one of the main negotiators of the administrators of the school demonstrators from Pro-Palestinian students, some of which created a tent camp on a Columbia lawn last year and took control of a university building for several hours in April before the police encouraged the campus to arrest them. Khalil was not in the group that occupied the building but was a mediator between the Columbia provosts and the demonstrators.
Protestant students called for Columbia’s disinvestment of companies linked to Israel, a ceasefire and the end of the war which killed nearly 50,000 Palestinians and transformed the enclave into rubble after a constant bombardment. The United States has provided most of the war ammunition.
Columbia said last year that it would plan to accelerate some of the students’ requests through its investment committee.
Rights defense groups have accused Israel of having committed a genocide in Gaza – which houses 2.3 million people. Despite a cease-fire since January 19, Israel has blocked the entry of all assistance to Gaza since March 1, drawing the conviction of the rights and aid agencies.
On October 7, 2023, the attack on Hamas against Israel and the subsequent Israeli military offensive of Gaza led to months of pro-Palestinian demonstrations which rolled American university campuses.
At least 1,100 people were killed in the Hamas attack and some 240 people were caught in captivity. Most captives have been released as part of the truce agreements. A new series of truce talks will resume in the Qatari capital, Doha on Monday.
Government
A Columbia spokesman said that the school had been prohibited by law to share information on individual students.
The Ministry of Internal Security and the State Department, which oversees the country’s visa system, has not answered questions from press agencies. He was not immediately clear on the patterns of ice agents who arrested Khalil. The ice is the American department for internal security.
In an interview with the reuters news agency a few hours before his arrest on Saturday about the Trump administration’s criticism of Columbia, Khalil said he was concerned about the fact that he was targeted by the government for talking to the media.
The Trump administration said on Friday that it had canceled government contracts and subsidies worth around $ 400 million at Columbia University. The government said that students’ cuts and deportation efforts are due to “anti -Semitic” harassment on the Manhattan campus and near Columbia.
“What can Columbia do more to appease the congress or the government now?” Khalil said before his arrest, noting that Columbia had twice called the police to arrest demonstrators and disciplined many students and pro-Palestinian staff, suspending some.
“They essentially silenced anyone supporting Palestine on campus and it was not enough. Obviously, Trump uses demonstrators as a scapegoat for his wider program (of) combat and attacking higher education and the ivy League education system. »»
In response to the discounts of subsidies announced on Friday, the acting president of Columbia, Katrina Armstrong, said that the school was determined to fight against anti -Semitism and “worked with the federal government to respond to their legitimate concerns”.
Protestant students denied charges of anti -Semitism.
‘This is only the beginning’
Maryam Alwan, an American Palestinian senior in Columbia who protested alongside Khalil, said the Trump administration dehumanized the Palestinians.
“I am horrified for my dear friend Mahmoud, who is a legal resident, and I am horrified that it is only the beginning,” she said.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said last week that international students support Hamas, that the United States has appointed a “terrorist” organization, are faced with the revocation of the visa and expulsion.
Columbia published a revised protocol on Thursday on how students and school staff should manage ice agents seeking to enter private school goods.
The school said that ice agents without a judicial arrest warrant may be authorized to enter its private property in “demanding circumstances”, which it did not specify.
“By authorizing ice on campus, Columbia goes to the assault of the Trump administration against universities across the country and sacrifice international students to protect its finances,” said Columbia students in its press release.
Khalil lives in a university building near the main closed campus of Columbia.