Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil arrested by ICE, Green card revoked for leading Columbia protests

Khalil, who spearheaded Columbia’s disruptive pro-Palestinian encampment movement last year, was apprehended by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents at his university-owned apartment near the Manhattan campus. His attorney, Amy Greer, told The Associated Press that ICE acted on a State Department order, initially targeting his expired student visa. When Greer noted Khalil’s status as a permanent resident via a green card—secured through his American wife, now eight months pregnant—agents revealed that privilege was also being revoked, a move Greer called a “clear escalation.”

Khalil’s arrest aligns with President Donald Trump’s renewed pledge, upon returning to office in January, to deport foreign students involved in anti-Israel protests and combat campus antisemitism. The administration has zeroed in on Columbia, slashing $400 million in federal grants and contracts on Friday due to the university’s failure to curb what officials call rampant antisemitic harassment. Khalil, a graduate of Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs as of December, had been a vocal negotiator for the tent encampment that roiled the Ivy League school last spring, protesting Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza following the October 7, 2023, attack that killed over 1,200 Israelis. In September, he defiantly told The Associated Press, “As long as Columbia continues to invest and to benefit from Israeli apartheid, the students will continue to resist.”

Greer lamented that authorities withheld details from Khalil’s wife about his detention, now underway at an ICE facility in Elizabeth, New Jersey. “We have not been able to get any more details about why he is being detained,” she said. Columbia, meanwhile, insisted law enforcement must present a warrant to enter university property but declined to confirm if one was shown. Khalil’s detention marks a bold step in Trump’s broader agenda, leaving supporters like Columbia senior Maryam Alwan “horrified” and critics questioning the administration’s motives as protests persist.