A head of Columbia University protests against Israel’s conflict in Gaza was arrested by immigration officers, a school coalition said Sunday, after US President Donald Trump vowed to arrest international pro-Palestinian student protesters.
Mahmoud Khalil, one of the most popular faces in the school’s protest movements that erupted in response to Israel’s conduct of the war, was arrested Saturday, the Student Workers of Columbia coalition said.
” On Saturday, Department of Homeland Security ( DHS) officers detained Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian recent Columbia graduate and lead negotiator for last spring’s Gaza solidarity encampment”, the union said in a statement.
US campuses including Columbia’s in New York were rocked by scholar protests against Israel’s conflict in Gaza following the October 7, 2023 Hamas harm. The presentations ignited complaints of anti-Semitism.
Demonstrations, some of which turned violent and saw college buildings occupied and seminars disrupted, pitted pupils protesting Israel’s do against pro-Israel politicians, many of whom were Jewish.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio wrote on X that” we will be revoking the visa and/or natural accounts of Hamas supporters in America so they can get deported”.
Khalil, who remains in immigration enforcement confinement, held continuous citizenship at the time of his imprisonment prompting thousands of people to sign a petition calling for his release, the coalition statement added.
” We are also aware of several accounts of Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials accessing or attempting to access Columbia school buildings on Friday and Saturday, including bachelor dormitories”, the union said.
Columbia did not directly target Khalil’s incarceration in response to questions, but in a speech said” there have been studies of ICE in the streets around campus”.
” Columbia has and will continue to follow the rules. Regular with our historic process and the process of places and organizations throughout the country, law enforcement may have a judicial warrant to provide non-public University areas, including University buildings”, Columbia said.
The Department of Homeland Security did not respond to a request for comment.
Trump railed against the student opposition movement linked to the issue in Gaza, and vowed to arrest international students who had demonstrated.
He even threatened to cut off federal money for organizations that he said were not doing much to combat anti-Semitism.
His administration announced Friday it was cutting$ 400 million in federal grants to Columbia University, accusing it of failing to protect Jewish students from harassment.
