Federal immigration authorities arrested a former Columbia University student on Saturday who was at the forefront of pro-Palestinian protests on campus last year, citing the State Department’s order to revoke his green card, according to his lawyer.
Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian refugee who graduated from Colombia in December, graduated in December last year and was detained in a university-owned apartment near the Ivy League campus in New York.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents entered the building and arrested him, his attorney, Amy Greer, told the Associated Press. Ms. Greer said the wife of Khalil, who was eight months pregnant, was not informed of the reason for the detention.
Mr Khalil played a key role in protests at the pro-Palestinian student camp last spring, part of a nationwide demonstration against Israel’s war in Gaza. In a meeting with university administrators, he was elected as a student negotiator.
Mr. Khalil was also investigated by Colombia’s newly formed Institutional Fairness Office, which is tasked with reviewing students criticizing Israel. The committee reportedly sent disciplinary notices to students for activities such as social media posts and attending unauthorized protests.
“We can’t get more details about why he was detained,” Ms. Greer told the Associated Press. “This is a clear escalation. The government is following its threat.”
Ms Greer said she spoke with Icefield Agents during her arrest, who initially claimed they were executing an order to revoke Mr Khalil’s student visa. When he learned that Mr. Khalil was a permanent resident of the Green Card, the agent said this was also revoked. He has since been transferred to an immigration detention center in Elizabeth, New Jersey.
Under U.S. law, only immigration courts can revoke green cards, not government agencies. However, Secretary of State Marco Rubio intends to use artificial intelligence (AI) to revoke foreign national visas deemed to support Hamas or other terrorist organizations.
Columbia University has been a special focus of federal review. On Friday, the government announced it would cut $400 million in grants and contracts to universities, accusing it of failing to address anti-Semitism on campus.
The arrests came out of arrests amid the Trump administration’s intensified crackdown on student activists criticizing Israel. President Donald Trump vowed to expel foreign students and imprison protesters, involving demonstrations against Israel’s war in Gaza.
“They just want to show Congress and right-wing politicians that they are doing something regardless of the students’ bets,” Khalil said last week. “It’s mostly relaxing the office where Plasteen’s speeches.”
Camp protests in Columbia began last spring and inspired similar demonstrations at universities across the United States. Many universities have called on local police to break the protests, resulting in the arrest of hundreds of students.
