Mahmoud Khalil Palestinian activist leader arrested as Colombia University protester faces deportation amid questions of its legality and the criminilization of free speech and Donald Trump’s attempt to constitute Pro Palestine speech as equivalent to anti-semitism and supporting terrorism following arrest by ICE over the weekend.
## Update: A federal judge on Monday halted the deportation of Columbia University graduate student and Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil as thousands of protesters flooded lower Manhattan, NYC, calling for his release.
## Original story: A Columbia University student, Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian graduate student, protesting his school’s ties to Israel amid that nation’s ongoing bombing and genocide of Gaza now faces deportation following his arrest this weekend at the hands of US immigration agents.
The legality of deporting activists and permanent residents exercising their right to free speech
Khalil, a graduate student at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs, was arrested on Saturday by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents at a Columbia owned apartment inhabited by the activist who fronts Columbia United Apartheid Divest (CUAD).
The organization which demands the end of apartheid and the ongoing violence and destruction of Gaza was principal over the summer in ramped up protests on school grounds.
The activist’s arrest follows President Donald Trump’s active cancellation of government contracts with the University along with Trump signalling ‘Anti-Isreal’ protesters at the school could be expelled along with foreign students deported.
Trump’s order to deport legal permanent residents taking part in what his administration has decried as illegal and subversive activities and who he claims are pro Hamas (who have been deemed a terrorist group in the West) has reinvigorated debate as to the legality of his proposed deportation of activists exercising their right to political speech on school grounds along with who gets to decide what is ‘correct’ and ‘non-offensive’ political speech.
Has Donald Trump overstepped boundaries of criminilization of free speech and activism?
Of note, Khalill’s arrest follows the activist being suspended from Columbia last April for taking part in alleged ‘violent’ demonstrations, only for the suspension to be reversed the next day due to lack of evidence.
Khalil’s wife is an American citizen, eight months pregnant, with the activist, of Palestinian origin holding a US permanent residency green card.
Khalil’s detention is one of the first actions by President Donald Trump since returning to the White House in January, to make good on his promise to target ‘foreign students involved in pro-Palestinian protests,’ which he has labelled ‘antisemitic.’ The Hamas attack on Israel in October 2023 and the subsequent US-supported Israeli assault on Gaza have sparked months of pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel protests across US college campuses.
Khalil describes the movement as an anti-war initiative that includes Jewish students and groups. He was also one of the lead negotiators with school administrators on behalf of pro-Palestinian protesters, some of whom set up tent encampments on Columbia’s lawns and took over an academic building for several hours before police were called to arrest them last summer.
Khalil was not in the group that occupied the building, but was a mediator between Columbia vice provosts and the protesters, Reuters reported.
Just hours before his arrest, Khalil said he was concerned that he was being targeted by the government for speaking to the media.
‘What more can Columbia do to appease Congress or the government now?’ Khalil told Reuters on Saturday, noting that Columbia had twice called in police to arrest protesters and had disciplined many pro-Palestinian students and staff, suspending some. ‘They basically silenced anyone supporting Palestine on campus and this was not enough. Clearly Trump is using the protesters as a scapegoat for his wider agenda fighting and attacking higher education and the Ivy League education system.’
Starting now, the right wing and some of their Democrat establishment enablers will defame Palestinian American Columbia student Mahmoud Khalil as he remains missing after a White House directed ICE deportation order.
A “dangerous” negotiator co leading a non violent protest.… pic.twitter.com/KC1eOzqjMJ
— Rafael Shimunov ✡️ 🍉 (@rafaelshimunov) March 9, 2025
Illegality of deporting permanent resident who has not been charged with a crime but whose opinions & ‘free speech’ offend you
Secretary of State Marco Rubio shared a news report of Khalil’s arrest on social media on Sunday, adding the comment: ‘We will be revoking the visas and/or green cards of Hamas supporters in America so they can be deported.’
The Department of Homeland Security can initiate deportation proceedings against green card holders for a broad range of alleged criminal activity, including supporting a terror group. But the detention of a legal permanent resident who has not been charged with a crime marked an extraordinary move with an uncertain legal foundation, according to immigration experts.
“This has the appearance of a retaliatory action against someone who expressed an opinion the Trump administration didn’t like,” said Camille Mackler, founder of Immigrant ARC, a coalition of legal service providers in New York, NPR reported.
The US, along with the German government, the EU and some Arab states, designates Hamas a terror organization. US law forbids providing ‘material support or resources’ to groups the country has designated as terrorist organizations.
The law does not define or prohibit ‘activities aligned to’ these groups.
Neither ICE or DHS has said Khalil is accused of giving material support to Hamas. No charges have been made against the activist, raising the legal question of his arrest and threat of deportation.
Khalil was raised in a Palestinian refugee camp in Syria and has worked for the British embassy in Beirut, according to his online biography. As of Sunday, he was being held at an ICE detention center in Elizabeth, New Jersey.
Responding to the activist’s arrest, a spokesperson for Columbia said the school was barred by law from sharing information about individual students, but said in a statement the school was ‘committed to the legal rights of our students.’
For several years, Khalil and his fellow protesters have called on Columbia to divest from weapons manufacturers and companies that support Israel’s military, using the university’s $14.8 billion endowment. In response, Columbia expressed its willingness to expedite the consideration of the students’ demands through its advisory committee on socially responsible investing.
The school has since found itself being threatened with sanctions, including the loss of $400 million worth of grants and contracts, seemingly as retaliation for its implied support (or at least to force its hand) and facilitation of school activism challenging US policy towards the ongoing dilemma of the Hamas-Israel dynamics. The ongoing strife has led the entire raising of Gaza to the ground, the death of over 50K civilians and the displacement of 2.2 million residents, with still no end in sight.
