Mahmoud Khalil, a recent Palestinian graduate of the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University and a leading force in pro-Palestinian campus rallies, was arrested last month. Amid President Donald Trump’s crackdown pro-Palestinian campus activism, the 30-year-old green-card holder is in custody in Louisiana and doing everything he can to resist deportation.
Khalil has not been charged with a crime. However, federal officials have accused him of leading activities “aligned with Hamas.” It leaves room for the Trump administration to push for his deportation under a provision that allows the state department to deport non-citizens seen as a threat to US foreign policy, per the Guardian.
The Columbia graduate has since spoken out on his situation in a letter addressed to his university. On Friday, an op-ed dictated by Mahmoud Khalil – who is currently detained at the Central Louisiana ICE Processing Centre – accused Columbia of laying “the groundwork for my abduction.”
Mahmoud Khalil speaks out in support of other student activists
Listing names of several international Columbia students and others who face the brunt of participating in pro-Palestinian protests, Mahmoud argued their “intimidation and kidnapping… has only accelerated” since his “abduction.”
“On March 9, Yunseo Chung had to file a lawsuit and eventually seek a court order barring U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement from detaining her for her protest activity. On March 11, Ranjani Srinivasan chose to cross the border to Canada upon the belief that this university was ready to hand her over to ICE. Beyond the gates of Columbia, Leqaa Kordia, Dr. Badar Khan Suri, and Rümeysa Öztürk have all been snatched by the state,” he continued. “The logic used by the federal government to target myself and my peers is a direct extension of Columbia’s repression playbook concerning Palestine.”
Mahmoud Khalil further accused Columbia of suppressing “student dissent under the auspices of combating antisemitism,” noting that the university even passed on student disciplinary records to Congress last year. He also argued that the movement for “Palestinian freedom and justice at Columbia and across the United Stated has always centred community care.”
Slamming claims that pro-Palestinian solidarity is “rooted in antisemitism” as “mere fabrication,” he encouraged students to continue their demonstrations. “It is incumbent upon each of you to reclaim the University and join the student movement to carry forward the work of the past year,” he added.
Read Mahmoud Khalil’s op-ed here: http://www.columbiaspectator.com/opinion/2025/04/04/a-letter-to-columbia/
Trump admin’s ‘mass deportation’ agenda
In late January, Trump said that the United States must use “all available and appropriate legal tool” to “remove” international presence in “unlawful antisemitic harassment and violence.” US Secretary of State Marco Rubio consequently revealed that more than 300 international student visas had been revoked. “Maybe more; it might be more than 300 at this point. We do it every day. Every time I find one of these lunatics, I take away their visa,” he said at a press conference. Rubio also launched “Catch and Revoke” app. The campaign centred around its introduction has equally doubled down on smearing pro-Palestine protesters as “pro-jihadist,” supporters of Hamas or other militant organisations.
As Trump’s promise of “mass deportations” continues to make headlines, Marco Rubio announced on Saturday that the US is revoking visas issued to all South Sudanese passport holders. He attributed the decision to “the failure of South Sudan’s transitional government to accept the return of its repatriated citizens in a timely manner,” adding “Every country must accept the return of its citizens in a timely manner when another country, including the United States, seeks to remove them.”