UPDATED: Arab-Americans, ACLU, 1.62 mln petitioners demand immediate release of Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil - International

Al-Ahram Weekly

10-03-2025

The Arab American Institute (AAI) and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) released statements condemning the arrest of one of the notable leaders of the anti-Gaza war student protests at Columbia University, Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil.
On Saturday evening, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested Khalil at his New York City residence.
Mahmoud Khalil is an Algerian citizen of Palestinian descent and a green card holder.
Khalil completed his graduate studies at Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) in December 2024.
The Society for International Development (SID) noted that he earned a Bachelor of Science in computer science from the Lebanese American University.
According to SID, Khalil has also worked for the Syria Office at the British embassy in Beirut and for Jusoor, a Syrian-American nonprofit focused on education.
According to Newsweek, Khalil was a negotiator between pro-Palestinian protesters and the university administration regarding tent encampments and a member of the Columbia University Apartheid Divest group.
His lawyer, Amy Greer, stated to the Columbia Daily Spectator, Columbia's student newspaper, that ICE agents, some of whom did not identify themselves, took Khalil into custody under the claim that his student visa had been revoked, despite his status as a lawful permanent resident.
Khalil was initially held at an ICE facility in New Jersey before being transferred to the Central Louisiana ICE Processing Centre in Jena, Louisiana.
Greer said in a statement: "Last night ICE agents wrongfully arrested Mahmoud Khalil, claiming his student visa was revoked – even though Mahmoud is legal permanent resident (green card) and not in the U.S. on a student visa. Confronted with that fact, the ICE agents detained him anyway. Overnight we filed a habeas corpus petition on Mahmoud's behalf challenging the validity of his arrest and detention. Currently, we do not know Mahmoud's precise whereabouts. Initially, we were informed this morning that he had been transferred to an ICE facility in Elizabeth, New Jersey. However, when his wife – a U.S. citizen who is eight months' pregnant and was threatened with arrest as well by the ICE agents last night."
Maya Berry, executive director of the Arab American Institute, issued a strongly worded statement condemning the arrest as an attack on free speech and political expression.
'The arrest by ICE this weekend of Mahmoud Khalil represents a clear violation of First Amendment rights,' Berry stated.
'As a student and activist at Columbia University, Mahmoud was expressing his political beliefs and participating in free speech in support of Palestinian human rights,' she added.
Berry also drew connections between Khalil's arrest and other actions taken by the Trump administration against immigrants, arguing that the government is systematically targeting marginalized communities.
She warned that suppressing advocacy for Palestinian rights under the pretext of "combating antisemitism" sets a dangerous precedent.
'For the safety of all communities, we must collectively speak with moral clarity now and reject these efforts,' Berry urged.
In tandem, Ben Wizner, director of the ACLU's Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project, denounced the arrest as a blatant violation of Khalil's constitutional protections.
'This arrest is unprecedented, illegal, and un-American,' Wizner said.
'The federal government is claiming the authority to deport people with deep ties to the US and revoke their green cards for advocating positions that the government opposes. To be clear: the First Amendment protects everyone in the US,' he added.
The ACLU called for Khalil's immediate release and demanded that the government cease its efforts to penalize political dissent.
Meanwhile, as of midnight Monday, 1,672 911 activists signed a petition demanding the immediate release of Khalil.
The petition was created by Deportation Defense, a group organizing to address deportation orders for pro-Palestinian activists.
Many arrests to come!
Shortly after Khalil was taken into custody, President Donald Trump took to his social media platform, Truth Social, to celebrate the Palestinian activist's arrest and signal that more arrests would follow.
'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.
"This is the first arrest of many to come,' he warned.
Trump further alleged, without evidence, that many student protestors were not students at all but rather 'paid agitators' engaged in activities 'contrary to our national and foreign policy interests.'
Khalil's arrest follows Trump's 29 January executive order, titled 'Additional Measures to Combat Anti-Semitism,' which mandates reporting activities by international students and staff that could be deemed antisemitic.
The order conflates criticism of Israel with antisemitism and disproportionately targets Arab, Muslim, and pro-Palestinian students.
Reports of ICE presence around Columbia's campus on Saturday heightened concerns among students and faculty.
University security officers confirmed they were alerted to ICE's activity and advised to notify public safety if the agency attempted to enter university grounds or buildings.
Activists fear that Khalil's case could be the first in a broader crackdown on pro-Palestinian advocacy in the United States.
In 2024, pro-Palestinian protests swept across US university campuses, with students and faculty demanding an immediate ceasefire in the Israeli genocidal war on Gaza and divestment from companies linked to Israel's military.
The demonstration/encampment movement against the Israeli war began at Columbia University and spread nationwide, drawing comparisons to Vietnam War-era student activism.
University administrations responded with suspensions and police crackdowns, leading to over 1,000 arrests.
On 30 April, New York police stormed Columbia University, forcibly dismantling encampments.
Other universities also violently dispersed similar Pro-Palestine encampments and issued suspensions or expulsions against student protesters.
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*Ezzat Sameh contributed research to this report.
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