A Palestinian activist who helped lead Columbia University’s student encampment movement was arrested on Saturday by federal immigration authorities who claimed they were acting on a State Department order to revoke his green card, said his attorney. Mahmoud Khalil was at his university-owned apartment near the campus when ICE agents entered the building and took him into custody. The arrest comes as President Trump vows to deport foreign students and imprison “agitators” involved in protests against Israel’s war in Gaza, The Guardian reports. The administration has placed particular scrutiny on Columbia, announcing Friday that it woiuld cut $400 million in grants and contracts because of what the government describes as the elite school’s failure to squelch antisemitism on campus.
The authorities declined to tell Khalil’s wife, who is eight months pregnant, why he was being detained, his attorney, Amy Greer, told the Associated Press. Khalil had become one of the most visible faces of the pro-Palestinian movement at Columbia. As 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 said, “As long as Columbia continues to invest and to benefit from Israeli apartheid, the students will continue to resist.” An immigration court can revoke a green card but government agencies do not have that power. Last week it was reported by Axios that Secretary of State Marco Rubio intends to revoke visas from foreign nationals who are deemed to support Hamas.
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