A Palestinian activist who led the disruptive anti-Israel protests at each Columbia College and Barnard Faculty has been arrested by ICE brokers at his campus condo, in keeping with his lawyer.
Mahmoud Khalil, a former graduate scholar who obtained his undergraduate diploma in Beirut and accomplished his research at Ivy League Columbia in December, additionally reportedly faces having his visa revoked and his inexperienced card canceled following President Trump’s crackdown on unrest at schools.
He was inside his university-owned condo a couple of blocks from campus Saturday evening when ICE brokers entered the residence and took him into custody, lawyer Amy Greer advised AP.
Whereas a scholar, Khalil headed up student-run group Apartheid Divest, and was a lead negotiator throughout final spring’s protracted scholar protest on campus, wherein dozens of tents jammed the garden of the Morningside Heights campus.
He was additionally a political affairs officer with UNRWA — the United Nations’ company that helps Palestinian refugees, which Israel says have been infilatred by Hamas — from June by way of November 2023, in keeping with his LinkedIn.
Regardless of graduating months in the past, Khalil has remained energetic in latest disruptive actions, together with final week’s takeover of the Milstein Library at Barnard Faculty. Movies and pictures posted on X depict him holding a bullhorn close to the library entrance and engaged in dialogue with faculty directors.
As brokers raided the condo, the college put out an announcement addressing the presence of brokers within the neighborhood of the campus, and said its intention to not cooperate with ICE’s lawful actions besides the place required by regulation.
“In step with our longstanding apply and the apply of cities and establishments all through the nation, regulation enforcement will need to have a judicial warrant to enter private college areas, together with college buildings,” the assertion learn partially.
“Columbia is dedicated to complying with all authorized obligations and supporting our scholar physique and campus neighborhood.”
Final September, Khalil and his group have been amongst these collaborating within the Columbia campus takeover at the beginning of the college 12 months. Native and state leaders, together with Gov. Kathy Hochul condemned the protests, calling on faculty officers to implement disciplinary codes and impose “swift actions” to punish wrongdoers, a supply advised The Put up on the time.
Khalil advised a Put up reporter throughout September’s raucous protests that anti-Israel scholar organizers have been undeterred, and promised to ramp up their actions, together with establishing future encampments.
“So long as Columbia continues to take a position and to learn from Israeli apartheid, the scholars will proceed to withstand,” Mahmoud Khalil, a graduate scholar, stated.
“Not solely protests and encampments, the restrict is the sky.”
Final April, through the top of the encampment protests, Khalil advised the Columbia Each day Spectator that he was not personally collaborating within the protests over issues he would lose his scholar visa — which allowed him to stay within the US.
He was briefly suspended that month for collaborating within the encampment protest at Columbia, however the suspension was reversed the very subsequent day, he advised BBC on the time.
“[They said] that after reviewing the proof, they don’t have any proof to droop,” he stated.
An ICE agent reportedly advised Greer the company was implementing a State Division edict to revoke Khalil’s scholar visa in addition to his inexperienced card, pursuant to President Trump’s latest pledge to deport overseas scholar “agitators” liable for fomenting campus unrest.
The information comes simply days after Trump introduced plans to yank about $400 million in federal grants and contracts from Columbia as a consequence of its noncompliance with anti-discrimination legal guidelines.