March 12, 2025
ISLAMABAD – Mahmoud Khalil, a recent graduate of Columbia University, was arrested by US immigration officials over the weekend despite holding a permanent residency green card. His crime was participating in pro-Palestine protests at his alma mater.
According to Zeteo News correspondent Prem Thakker, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents forced themselves into Khalil’s university-owned apartment building as he and his eight months pregnant wife were just walking in. The officials initially told Khalil his student visa was being revoked and upon learning he was a green card holder, they said the government had revoked his green card too.
In another video Thakker called the Trump administration’s attempt to detain Khalil “clumsy and haphazard”.
“These agents forced themselves into this apartment building, did not necessarily apparently introduce themselves, demanded to see their identification […] The administration doesn’t seem to know exactly how to justify this very haphazard, unilateral move and is trying to simply appeal to President Trump’s executive orders rather than things like the Constitution.”
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), confirming Khalil’s arrest on Sunday, claimed he had “led activities aligned to Hamas” and that the DHS action was taken “in coordination with the Department of State.”
Khalil, an Algerian citizen of Palestinian descent, was reportedly at the forefront of the pro-Palestine protests and led the encampments at Columbia that rapidly spread to universities across the US. The demonstration protested Israel’s devastating crimes in Gaza.
President Donald Trump, freshly inaugurated and desperately seeking to expel any dissent to his views, threatened that Khalil’s arrest wasn’t the last.
“This is the first arrest of many to come,” he pledged on his social media platform, Truth Social.
“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,” Trump said.
Temporary halt
While the Trump administration moves to quickly deport Khalil, who has reportedly been moved to the southern state of Louisiana, a federal judge on Monday ordered authorities to halt proceedings.
The order, seen by AFP, by Judge Jesse Furman of the Southern District of New York also called for a preliminary hearing on Wednesday.
According to Reuters, Judge Furman put a hold on his deportation “unless and until the Court orders otherwise.”
Khalil’s lawyers also urged Furman to order Khalil’s return to New York. They accused the government of seeking to deprive Khalil of access to legal counsel by sending him far from New York.
‘A kidnapping’
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) condemned Khalil’s arrest, calling it “unprecedented, illegal, and un-American.”
“The government’s actions are obviously intended to intimidate and chill speech on one side of a public debate,” said Ben Wizner, director of the ACLU’s Speech, Privacy and Technology Project, in a statement.
On Monday afternoon, over 1,000 protesters gathered in New York to express their outrage at Khalil’s arrest.
“This was essentially a kidnapping,” said 42-year-old Tobi, who declined to give her last name for fear of retaliation.
“It seems like a clear targeting of activists, which is a really, really dangerous precedent,” she said.
“This is a dismal moment in American history. We must not go down this authoritarian path one step further,” said Michael Thaddeu, one of around 50 professors who expressed their concern Monday at a press conference.
The arrest also prompted an outcry from the United Nations, with the spokesperson for Secretary-General Antonio Guterres saying, “It is crucial to underscore the importance of respecting the right of freedom of expression and the right to peaceful assembly everywhere.”
‘Protesting genocide is not a crime’
Shortly after the news came to light, social media users, including US politicians, were outraged at Khalil’s arrest and Trump’s plans to deport people for protesting against the atrocities happening in Gaza.
They also highlighted that the move was against the First Amendment of the US Constitution which guarantees fundamental freedoms, including freedom of speech, assembly and religion.
Congresswoman Rashida Talib took to X (formerly Twitter) and said Khalil’s arrest was “straight out of the fascist playbook.
“Criminalising dissent is an assault on our First Amendment and freedom of speech. Revoking someone’s green card for expressing their political opinion is illegal. Protesting genocide is not a crime.”
US representative Ilhan Omar called the move “utterly outrageous”, “un-American” and called for Khalil’s release.
“The forced disappearance of Mahmoud Khalil for nothing more than constitutionally protected speech is a clear assault on first amendment rights and a blatant act of authoritarianism.”
American actor Cynthia Nixon said, “Neither Trump nor DHS have the power to singlehandedly revoke someone’s green card, especially not for exercising the right to free speech, a right enshrined in the Constitution. DHS must immediately release Mahmoud Khalil!”
Another social media user called for Khalil’s freedom, highlighting that his detainment and the impending threat of deportation, violated his First Amendment rights.
“It is illegal and unconstitutional. Every single American, no matter where you stand with the Palestinian cause, should be protesting this injustice.”
An X user said Khalil was Trump’s first political prisoner, adding that there was no such crime as anti-semitism because, “In America, you’re allowed to think or say anything you like.
“And they have no evidence he was antisemitic. He was arrested for criticising Israel.”
A netizen said, “because the party of free speech didn’t like HIS free speech — he’s abducted and set for deportation” despite doing everything “MAGAs claim they want”.
‘You’re next’
Activist Alana Hadid, the sister of supermodels Gigi and Bella Hadid, in an Instagram video said, “They can take you right now, no charges, no trial, no explanation, just gone. If you think that can’t happen in America, let me remind you it already has.”
She listed how Japanese Americans were rounded up and put in camps, black civil rights leaders were hunted down and assassinated, Muslims after 9/11 were spied on, detained and disappeared, and now it was Palestinians.
Alana underscored that Khalil was a legal permanent resident but “that did not stop the DHS from grabbing him, threatening his pregnant wife and taking him without charges.
“His wife begged them to explain, his lawyers demanded answers, and they hung up. Why? Because they don’t have to explain, because they know no one will stop them. This is how it happens. They test the waters, they go after the people they think no one will defend. First it’s an activist and a student, then it’s a journalist and then it’s anyone who speaks up.”
An X user said that Khalil was leading non-violent protests and was taken without trial despite being a permanent resident with a wife who is eight months pregnant.
“If we don’t all work to reverse this and end this, you’re eventually next. No matter who you are.”
Joshua Reed Eakle, the president of Project Liberal, highlighted that Khalil wasn’t an illegal resident, nor was he a terrorist and the DHS still “snatched him off campus, disappeared him without a trace”.
“No charges. No trial. Just gone. This is how authoritarian regimes operate. It’s what happens when the First Amendment only applies to the ‘right’ kind of people — it’s only a trial balloon for broader crackdown on speech.
“If they can do it to Khalil, they can do it to you.”
Another X user wrote, “Everyone should be shouting from the rooftops demanding the release of Mahmoud Khalil. No one is safe in a nation where you can be disappeared for protesting.
“It won’t end with immigrants on green cards. This is a system test. Soon enough, they’ll find a way to come for you too.”
A social media user said Khalil’s arrest was intended to make an example of him and intimidate others from speaking out about Palestine.
“We should never stop speaking out about Palestine. Because they would like nothing better.”
“Mahmoud Khalil protested the US Govt financing the murder of his people,” an X user wrote.
“Abducting him in the night, taking him away from his pregnant wife and refusing to share his location is an attack on free speech and blatant fascism.”
Jamie Beran, the CEO of the progressive movement, Bend the Arc: Jewish Action, said, “I know in my bones as an American Jew how dangerous it is when the government starts abducting legal residents that they disagree with and i know how doubly dangerous it is when they are claiming to do that in the name of Jewish safety.”
Speaking to press in front of Columbia University, she said that if the Trump administration truly cared about the Jewish people or wanted to end antisemitism, then it would uphold their freedom to speak, study and stand up for their beliefs.
“Abducting Mahmoud Khalil and tearing him away from his family is an affront to freedom and safety for all of us, Jewish people very much included.
“This is a blatant example of how this administration uses antisemitism as a smokescreen to enact its plans to bully, blame and ban people. Abducting Mahmoud does nothing to make Jews safer, in fact, it is just another way the MAGA administration is using antisemitism to generate division and fear.”
‘Shalom, Mahmoud’
The official social media handles for the White House announced the news of Khalil’s arrest and Trump’s statement, opening the tweet with ‘Shalom, Mahmoud’.
Shalom is a Hebrew word used as a salutation by Jewish people at meeting or parting, meaning ‘peace’. However, as with everything they do, there isn’t a hint of peace in the Trump administration’s narrative.
In an Instagram video, Alana called the post state propaganda in real time. She said, “This is how oppression is white-washed. This is how they turn a Palestinian activist, who was literally abducted for resisting a genocide, into a symbol for the very forces trying to silence him.
“This is a tactic as old as colonialism itself, first they erase our history, then they erase the struggle and if that doesn’t work, they repackage it to serve their own agenda. What you are seeing is this government testing the waters in how much they can re-write reality.”
n Instagram user questioned when Hebrew had become the official language of the White House, adding that they normally only posted in English.
By using one word of Hebrew, which serves as Israel’s official language, the Trump administration makes it clear which side they’re supporting. This was a deliberate step, actively taken to highlight what the American president’s stance is — and frankly, has been for as long as Israel’s existed. Trump is not taking an unbiased approach to the situation in Palestine, his social media and deranged comments are enough to tell the world that it’s Israel or bust for him.
Meanwhile, with a crackdown on anyone who isn’t a straight, white, Christian man, the MAGA administration ushers in a new feat — the US is added to the CIVICUS Monitor Watchlist due to threats to civic freedoms under Trump.
In a press release, CIVICUS, the international non-profit focused on civil rights, said, “In 2025, the new administration slashed federal funding for organisations supporting people most in need, dismantled USAID, and reversed progress on justice, inclusion, and diversity.”
The organisation added that Trump’s unprecedented executive orders were “designed to unravel democratic institutions, rule of law, and global cooperation.”
Khalil’s arrest also sets a dangerous precedent for student protesters. For now, it seems, no one is truly safe from the Trump-empowered ICE and DHS, especially those on temporary visas and green cards. To put it into context, green card holders aren’t usually deported except for certain conditions, which include criminal behavior or violations of immigration law. Khalil, on the other hand, was peacefully protesting against the oppression of his people.
What amplifies the problem even further is that under the Trump administration, the US Constitution and its revered First Amendment, do not seem to protect citizens or legal residents.