This page is subject to the extended confirmed restriction related to the Arab-Israeli conflict.

Mahmoud Khalil, who had a prominent role as a student activist and negotiator in the pro-Palestine protests at Columbia University as a graduate student at Columbia's School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA), was arrested by United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents at his home on March 8, 2025.^[1][2][3] The agents were acting on orders from the State Department to revoke Khalil’s student visa. When the agents were informed that Khalil, of Palestinian and Syrian^[4] nationality and Algerian citizenship,^[5] was a lawful permanent resident of the United States in possession of a green card, they said they were revoking that instead.^[1]

The detention is the first publicly known deportation effort related to pro-Palestine activism under President Donald Trump, who has threatened to punish students and others who joined pro-Palestine protests or express support for Palestine.^[1] It received widespread backlash from members of the Democratic Party and other organizations, who alleged it was an attack on freedom of speech and the First Amendment.

Khalil was born in Syria in 1995 and is a permanent U.S. resident with a green card.^[6] He attended Columbia University's SIPA, where he earned his master's degree in December 2024.^[7][8] Between June and November 2023, he worked as a political affairs officer with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency in New York.^{[better source needed]} He later became actively involved in pro-Palestinian activism, particularly on Columbia University's campus, and served as a negotiator for students when they were bargaining with university officials during the Columbia tent encampments. Khalil was under investigation by university officials for involvement in the university's Apartheid Divest group and helping organize a march that reportedly "glorified the attacks on October 7" and criticized Zionism.^[6][9]

• First encampment after arrests, April 18
• Growth of second encampment, April 23

Student protests were routinely occurring at Columbia in early 2024 and the first encampment established at Columbia caused other encampments to spread across the U.S.^{[citation needed]} The encampment was destroyed by NYPD officers and student participants were arrested under the orders of then university president Minouche Shafik, but a new encampment was shortly built.^[10][11]

The arrest occurred during a period of heightened federal scrutiny of Columbia University. The Trump administration had recently canceled approximately $400 million in federal grants and contracts to Columbia, citing an alleged failure to protect Jewish students from antisemitic harassment on campus. Columbia University said it was reviewing the government's actions and remained committed to combating antisemitism while ensuring its community's safety and well-being.^[12][13] Trump additionally signed executive order 14188, which calls for the deportation of students with visas who have broken laws during any anti-Israeli protest since the October 7, 2023 attacks.^[14][15]

Prior to his detention, Khalil was targeted by an online campaign to have him deported.^[16] According to an email Khalil sent to Columbia president Katrina Armstrong, the campaign was being led by Columbia affiliates Shai Davidai and David Lederer, who had labeled him as a "security threat" and called for his deportation.^[17] The New York Times said that Davidai "called on Marco Rubio to deport Mr. Khalil."^[16] Betar US posted on X in January that they had given his information to "multiple contacts" and that ICE was "aware of his home address and whereabouts."

In his March 7 email, Khalil urged Armstrong and Columbia to "intervene and provide the necessary protections to prevent further harm" and asked for legal support for himself and other international students threatened with deportation. In Columbia's guidance about potential ICE visits to campus, published the weekend of the arrest, it said that staff should not interfere if ICE sought access to campus buildings without a warrant.^[17]

At around 8:30 pm on March 8, Khalil was taken by multiple^[4] plainclothes officers^[18] from his apartment in Columbia University housing.^[1] A Columbia spokesperson declined to say whether, before the arrest, the university had received a warrant for the ICE agents to access property the university owned.^[1] The spokesperson also declined to comment on the arrest.^[1]

Khalil was taken in the presence of his wife, a U.S. citizen, who was also threatened with arrest.^[1] He was able to call his lawyer, Amy Greer, from the building's lobby.^[4] She spoke over the phone with one of the ICE agents, who told her that they were acting on State Department orders to revoke Khalil’s student visa.^[1] Greer said that when she informed the agent that Khalil was a permanent resident of the U.S. in possession of a green card, the agent responded that they would revoke the green card instead.^[1] When Greer said she needed to see a warrant before Khalil could be detained, the agent hung up.^[4]

As of March 9, Greer was uncertain of Khalil's whereabouts, noting the possibility that he could be as far away as Louisiana.^[16] Khalil's pregnant wife, who sought to visit him at a detention center in New Jersey, was informed that he was not there.^[16]

As of March 10, according to the ICE inmate locator website, Khalil appears to be in LaSalle Detention Center in Louisiana.^[19]

Greer filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus on March 9, and the next day Judge Jesse M. Furman ruled that Khalil could not be removed from the U.S. while the court assessed the case, scheduling a hearing for March 12.^[20]

A White House official told The Free Press that the administration's argument is "not that he was breaking the law", but that Khalil threatened the country's national security interests.^[21] Marco Rubio reportedly approved the arrest himself, under the 1952 Immigration and Nationality Act.^[22]

Courts have ruled that the First Amendment to the United States Constitution protects a broad range of political speech, including unpopular or contentious viewpoints, and have struck down regulations that could have a chilling effect or otherwise target speech based on viewpoint. In 2023, government lawyers considered whether removing a foreign national for exercising their first amendment rights would be constitutional, and concluded it would not be.^[23]

A legal permanent resident could be deported about having been convicted of certain criminal offenses, and immigration laws in Congress can make a person deportable for some other conduct that does not itself constitute a crime. If the State Department has reasonable grounds to believe that a noncitizens presence or activities in the country would have serious adverse foreign policy consequences, that individual could also be deported.^[24]

Trump posted on Truth Social that this was "the first arrest of many to come" and that the administration "will find, apprehend, and deport" those he called "terrorist sympathizers".^[25] Secretary of State Marco Rubio, reportedly plans to launch an AI-driven "Catch and Revoke" initiative which aims to cancel the visas of any foreign national suspected of supporting Hamas or any other designated terrorist organizations.^[19][1] Trump's border czar Tom Homan raised claims that Khalil had violated the terms of his student visa, by committing crimes, attacking Israeli students, locking down buildings and destroying property.^[26]

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt alleged that Khalil was given the privilege of coming into the US and took advantage of the opportunity to side with Hamas. Leavitt claimed that Khalil created and distributed pro-Hamas propaganda and made Jewish-American students feel unsafe on the college campus, but did not provide examples of any such material.^[27]

Fourteen Democratic representatives, including Representatives Rashida Tlaib, Jasmine Crockett, Ihan Omar and James McGovern signed a joint letter directed to the Department of Homeland Security Secretary Krisiti Noem stating that they were "horrified by the recent illegal abduction" and the "indefinite detention" of Khalil, while demanding his release. The letter was not signed by Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez who issued a statement condemning the detainment of Khalil and calling it unconstitutional and tyrannical shortly after the arrest.^[28][29]

Zohran Mamdani, a state assemblymember and Democratic Socialist mayoral candidate for New York City, called Khalil's detention "a blatant assault on the First Amendment and a sign of advancing authoritarianism under Trump".^[16]

Marianne Hirsch, a professor of English and comparative of Columbia University and raised by Holocaust survivors, condemned Khalil's dentention, where she stated, "criticism of Israel’s brutal war on Gaza can't be equated with anti-Jewish sentiment. Pro-Palestinian speech and activism does not mean a lack of safety for Jews anywhere".^[25] She also declared, "there is a chill in the air. It's a chill of fear and despair".^[30]

The Columbia Jewish Alumni Association, a group of pro-Israel alumni active on social media, applauded the detention in a series of posts on social media.^[16]

New York Civil Liberties Union director Donna Lieberman condemned Khalil's detention, calling it "targeted, retaliatory, and an extreme attack on his First Amendment rights" and saying it "reeks of McCarthyism".^[31][16][32]

The Anti-Defamation League said that Khalil's detention "illustrates [the Trump administration's] resolve by holding alleged perpetrators responsible for their actions" and that it hoped his arrest would deter other student activists. It added that "any deportation action or revocation of a Green Card or visa must be undertaken in alignment with required due process protections." In contrast, fellow Jewish organization Jewish Action stated that Khalil was targeted and detained for constitutionally protected speech and that the actions were done falsely by the White House in the name of Jews.^[19]

As of March 10, a petition demanding Khalil's immediate release had over 1.6 million signatures.^[20] The same day, hundreds of people demonstrated in New York City, demanding his release.^[25] A walkout was schedule that day at Columbia University, but was shifted to an off-campus area with events scheduled at both the New York City City Hall and Washington Square Park. Other rallies were held at Federal Plaza in Chicago and at Stanford University.^[33]