Over the weekend, a prominent Columbia University protest leader, Mahmoud Khalil, was detained by Department of Homeland Security agents and transferred to immigration detention, for allegedly leading “activities aligned to Hamas,” according to a government social media post, in order to enforce Trump’s January executive order on “combatting anti-semitism.” Khalil, who is Palestinian, is a legal permanent resident, according to his lawyers.
Amid the ongoing legal drama surrounding the case, including a Monday order from a federal judge in Manhattan to halt his imminent deportation, scores of protesters marched in protest of the arrest of Mahmoud Khalil. Our Sophie Hurwitz and Najib Aminy were on ground to capture the scene.
“ICE’s arrest and detention of Mahmoud follows the US government’s open repression of student activism and political speech, specifically targeting students at Columbia University for criticism of Israel’s assault on Gaza,” Khalil’s lawyer, Amy Greer, said in a written statement on Sunday. “The US government has made clear that they will use immigration enforcement as a tool to suppress that speech.”
“This is the first arrest of many to come,” Trump bragged on his media platform Truth Social on Monday afternoon, personally taking credit for Khalil’s arrest. “We will find, apprehend, and deport these terrorist sympathizers from our country—never to return again.”
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