A distinguished Palestinian activist who helped lead Columbia College’s pupil encampment motion was arrested Saturday evening by federal immigration authorities who claimed they had been performing on a State Division order to revoke his inexperienced card, based on his lawyer.
Mahmoud Khalil was at his university-owned residence blocks from Columbia’s Manhattan campus when a number of Immigration and Customs Enforcement brokers entered the constructing and took him into custody, his lawyer, Amy Greer, informed The Related Press.
One of many brokers informed Greer by telephone that they had been executing a State Division order to revoke Khalil’s pupil visa. Knowledgeable by the lawyer that Khalil, who graduated in December, was in the US as a everlasting resident with a inexperienced card, the agent stated they had been revoking that too, based on the lawyer.
The arrest comes as President Donald Trump vows to deport overseas college students and imprison “agitators” concerned in protests in opposition to Israel’s battle in Gaza. The administration has positioned specific scrutiny on Columbia, saying Friday that it will be chopping $400 million in grants and contracts due to what the federal government describes because the Ivy League college’s failure to squelch antisemitism on campus.
The authorities declined to inform Khalil’s spouse, who’s eight months pregnant, why he was being detained, Greer stated. Khalil has since been transferred to an immigration detention facility in Elizabeth, New Jersey.
“We have not been able to get any more details about why he is being detained,” Greer informed The AP. “This is a clear escalation. The administration is following through on its threats.”
A spokesperson for Columbia stated legislation enforcement brokers should produce a warrant earlier than coming into college property. The spokesperson declined to say if the college had obtained a warrant for Khalil’s arrest.
Messages searching for remark had been left with the State Division, the Division of Homeland Safety and ICE.
Khalil had turn out to be one of the vital seen faces of the pro-Palestinian motion at Columbia. As Columbia college students erected tents on campus final spring, Khalil was picked to function a negotiator on behalf of scholars and met steadily with college directors.
When courses resumed in September, he informed The Related Press that the protests would proceed: “As long as Columbia continues to invest and to benefit from Israeli apartheid, the students will continue to resist.”
