Khalil, raised in a Palestinian refugee camp in Syria and employed by the British embassy in Beirut, played a crucial role as a negotiator between Columbia University administrators and student protesters.
According to the reports, student workers’ union at Columbia University reported that US immigration officers have detained a Palestinian graduate student who participated in pro-Palestinian demonstrations on campus.
The Student Workers of Columbia union stated that Mahmoud Khalil, a student at Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs, was detained by the US Department of Homeland Security at his university residence on Saturday.
The statement added that Khalil, who possesses a US green card, is married to an American citizen who is eight months pregnant.
His arrest is viewed as one of the initial steps taken by US President Donald Trump to fulfill his commitment to deport foreign students involved in pro-Palestinian protests. Trump has deemed such protests as “antisemitic.”
A voice of support for protesters
A voice for demonstrators Khalil, who was raised in a Palestinian refugee camp in Syria and was employed at the British embassy in Beirut, played a crucial role as a negotiator between Columbia University officials and student demonstrators.
Last year, some demonstrators established encampments on campus and temporarily occupied an academic building. Khalil was not part of the occupation; instead, he served as a mediator.
He spoke to Reuters just hours before he was arrested, voicing concerns that his media conversations were making him a target.
“They effectively silenced anyone who supported Palestine on campus, and that was still insufficient,” he said.
Obviously, Trump is using protesters as a scapegoat for his broader program, attacking higher education and Polish League universities.
Khalil is included in the U.S. Immigration and Customs Authority (ICE) detention center in Elizabeth, New Jersey. His lawyer did not respond to comment.
Trump Administration reduces funding in Columbia
The day before Khalil‘s arrest, the Trump administration announced that Columbia University would abolish a national contract and grants of about $400 million, citing anti-theology on campus.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio shared a news report on Khalil‘s arrest on social networks, saying “We will cancel visas and green cards for Hamas supporters in the US so that they can be deported.”
Columbia University said it was “committed with the legal rights of students,” but declined to comment on individual cases of confidentiality laws.
Criticism and problems
Khalil‘s arrest sparked criticism of human rights groups. The New York Civil Liberties Union denounced the stage as “an attack on illegality, response and freedom of expression.”
“This is a horrifying escalation of Trump’s repression on immigration law statements and offensive violence,” said Donna Liberman’s executive director.
The University of Columbia has revised its policies on the treatment of immigration agents, declaring that ICE officers without a judicial mandate will only be authorized on private university goods in “demanding circumstances”, although the school has not defined what these circumstances would be.
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