Finally, action against antisemitism on college campuses…
According to a New York Post report, a Palestinian activist accused of leading radical protests at Columbia University and Barnard College has been arrested by ICE agents, his lawyer confirmed.
Mahmoud Khalil, leader of Columbia University Apartheid Divest and a recent Columbia graduate, may face visa revocation and green card cancellation amid Trump’s crackdown on campus unrest, attorney Amy Greer said Sunday.
ICE agents took Khalil into custody Saturday night from his university-owned apartment near the Ivy League campus, Greer said.
Although he graduated months ago, Khalil, who earned his undergraduate degree in Beirut, remained in school-provided housing under a policy allowing students to stay after graduation, a source told The Post.
From The New York Post:
[Khalil] has remained active in recent disruptive protests, including last week’s takeover of the Milstein Library at Barnard College. Videos and photographs posted on X depict him holding a bullhorn near the library entrance and engaged in discussion with school administrators.
That protest featured violent propaganda flyers that purportedly came directly from the “Hamas Media Office,” including one pamphlet titled “Our Narrative … Operation Al-Aqsa Flood,” which justified the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel that killed 1,200 people — and in which women were repeatedly raped, whole families executed and 251 hostages taken to the Gaza Strip.
Others at the Barnard library takeover passed around trading card-like photos of notorious Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, who was killed by an Israeli airstrike in Lebanon last September.
Ari Shrage, head of Columbia’s Jewish Alumni Association, told The Post he was dismayed and concerned to see the literature that was being distributed.
“These protesters were handing out materials from terrorist organizations Hamas and Hezbollah. Every American citizen should be concerned when students are encouraging terrorist activities on US soil regardless of their nationality.”
After his detention, Khalil’s supporters issued a press release calling the arrest “a racist targeting” which “serves to instill fear in pro-Palestine activists as well as a warning to others.”
Khalil claims ICE acted “unlawfully.”
Court documents allege that Khalil’s arrest by Immigration and Customs Enforcement
represents “the US government’s open repression of student activism and free speech, specifically targeting students at Columbia University for criticism of Israel’s assault on Gaza.”
President Trump reacted to the news on TRUTH Social:
Following my previously signed Executive Orders, ICE proudly apprehended and detained Mahmoud Khalil, a Radical Foreign Pro-Hamas Student on the campus of Columbia University. This is the first arrest of many to come. We know there are more students at Columbia and other Universities across the Country who have engaged in pro-terrorist, anti-Semitic, anti-American activity, and the Trump Administration will not tolerate it. Many are not students, they are paid agitators. We will find, apprehend, and deport these terrorist sympathizers from our country — never to return again. If you support terrorism, including the slaughtering of innocent men, women, and children, your presence is contrary to our national and foreign policy interests, and you are not welcome here. We expect every one of America’s Colleges and Universities to comply. Thank you!
— Karoline Leavitt (@PressSec) March 10, 2025
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