Leader of student protests at Columbia facing deportation after arrest by immigration officials
By JAKE OFFENHARTZ, CEDAR ATTANASIO and PHILIP MARCELO
Updated 1:09 PM EDT, March 10, 2025
NEW YORK (AP) — A prominent Palestinian activist who helped lead protests at Columbia University is facing deportation following his arrest by federal immigration agents over the weekend.
Mahmoud Khalil, who graduated from the university in December, was arrested Saturday by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. The Department of Homeland Security confirmed the arrest, saying it was a result of President Donald Trump’s executive orders prohibiting antisemitism. He has not been formally charged with a crime.
Khalil’s lawyer, Amy Greer, said the agents who took him into custody at his university-owned home near Columbia initially claimed to be acting on a State Department order to revoke his student visa. But when Greer informed them that Khalil was a permanent resident with a green card, they said they would revoke that documentation instead.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations, a national Muslim civil rights advocacy group, said Monday that it is working with Khalil’s lawyer and called for his immediate release.
Khalil “is a lawful permanent resident of our nation who has not been charged with or convicted of a single crime,” the Washington-based group said in a statement. “The Department of Homeland Security’s lawless decision to arrest him solely because of his peaceful anti-genocide activism represents a blatant attack on the First Amendment’s guarantee of free speech, immigration laws, and the very humanity of Palestinians.”
Federal immigration authorities also visited a second international student at Columbia over the weekend and attempted to take her into custody but were prevented from entering the apartment, according to a union representing the student. The woman has not been identified, and it’s not clear what grounds ICE had for the visit.