Lawyers for an activist who led pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia University are expected to face off Wednesday in court with federal officials who want him deported.
A federal judge on Monday temporarily halted Mahmoud Khalil’s removal, barring the government from deporting him before Wednesday’s hearing in New York.
Khalil was arrested by federal immigration authorities Saturday night at his university-owned apartment. Amy Greer, Khalil’s attorney, said officials were acting on a State Department order to revoke Khalil’s student visa and green card. Khalil was sent to a detention center in Jena, Louisiana. He will not be present at the New York hearing, his lawyers said.
Khalil graduated in December with a master’s degree from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs. The 30-year-old is married to an American citizen who is eight months pregnant.
President Trump said Monday that Khalil’s arrest was just the first “of many to come” amid the White House’s crackdown on students and alleged “agitators” protesting Israel’s war with Hamas.
White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said Tuesday that Khalil was “given the privilege of coming to this country to study at one of our nation’s finest universities and colleges – and he took advantage of that opportunity, of that privilege by siding with terrorists.”
Leavitt alleged that Khalil had distributed flyers on Columbia’s campus that were “pro-Hamas.”
“We have a zero-tolerance policy of siding with terrorists, period,” Leavitt said.
While Khalil has been accused of making statements in support of Hamas, he has not been publicly accused of providing any material support. His lawyers say he’s being punished for exercising protected speech.
Khalil’s attorneys said Monday in a statement that Khalil was “chosen as an example to stifle entirely lawful dissent in violation of the First Amendment.”
Khalil’s arrest came “in support of President Trump’s executive orders prohibiting antisemitism,” the Department of Homeland Security said in a statement.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio posted on social media that “we will be revoking the visas and/or green cards of Hamas supporters in America so they can be deported.”
The arrest was criticized by some students and professors at Columbia University and led to protests Monday in Manhattan.
Katrina Armstrong, the school’s interim president, called the arrest and the federal government’s suspension of $400 million in federal funds due to alleged antisemitism on campus “a challenging moment for our community” in a message to the Columbia University community on Monday.
“All eyes are on Columbia at present. It falls to us to ensure our University, and indeed the values of higher education more broadly, survive and thrive,” Armstrong wrote.
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