U.S. President Donald Trump boasted about the arrest by federal immigration authorities of a prominent Palestinian activist who helped lead Columbia University’s student encampment movement.
Trump posted a message on Monday on his Truth Social media platform about the arrest of Mahmoud Khalil, and said that it is "the first arrest of many to come."
"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," Trump wrote in his post.
"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!"
2 View gallery
Student protesters at Columbia University take over Hamilton Hall
(Photo: Alex Kent / Getty Images North America / AFP)
Khalil was at his university-owned apartment blocks from Columbia’s Manhattan campus when several Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents entered the building and took him into custody on Saturday night, according to his attorney, Amy Greer.
Trump has vowed to deport foreign students and imprison “agitators” involved in protests against Israel's actions in Gaza since the Hamas massacre on October 7, 2023. The administration has placed particular scrutiny on Columbia, announcing Friday that it would be cutting $400 million in grants and contracts because of what the government describes as the Ivy League school’s failure to squelch antisemitism on campus.
The New York Civil Liberties Union calls Khalil's detention unlawful, retaliatory and an attack on free speech rights.
Khalil grew up in a Palestinian refugee camp in his native Syria and has worked for the British embassy in Beirut. He holds a U.S. permanent residency green card. His wife is a U.S. citizen and is eight months pregnant, according to reports.
Get the Ynetnews app on your smartphone: Google Play: https://bit.ly/4eJ37pE | Apple App Store: https://bit.ly/3ZL7iNv
Khalil had become one of the most visible faces of the pro-Palestinian movement at Columbia. As Columbia students erected tents on campus last spring, Khalil was picked to serve as a negotiator on behalf of students and met frequently with university administrators.
When classes resumed in September, he told The Associated Press that the protests would continue: “As long as Columbia continues to invest and to benefit from Israeli apartheid, the students will continue to resist.”