Nationwide protests are planned this weekend after Mahmoud Khalil, a former Columbia University student activist, was arrested by immigration authorities, fueling tensions between the Trump administration and student movements over immigration policy.
Khalil, 30, was taken into custody by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in the middle of the night last weekend, prompting outrage in recent days. Khalil, an Algerian citizen of Palestinian descent, helped lead pro-Palestinian demonstrations at Columbia University last spring.
Protests calling for his release will be held in New York City; Boston; Phoenix; Charlotte, North Carolina; Oklahoma City; Miami; Indianapolis; and other cities Saturday and Sunday.
Several dozen protesters gathered in Times Square on Saturday afternoon, wearing traditional Palestinian scarfs known as keffiyehs and waving Palestinian flags.
"Release Mahmoud right now!" the protesters shouted.
Grant Miner, the president of a union representing thousands of Columbia student workers who were fired and expelled this week, addressed the crowd. He described Mahmoud's detention as "a campaign of fear."
"We must stand up together to tell Trump and his billionaire buddies that we’re not going to stand for this intimidation and the backsliding of civil rights in this country," he said.
To justify Khalil’s arrest, the Trump administration cited an obscure foreign-policy clause that allows the federal government to deport foreign nationals whom it deems national security threats. The Department of Homeland Security alleges that Khalil “led activities aligned to Hamas, a designated terrorist organization.”
On Monday, a federal judge temporarily blocked the Trump administration from expelling Khalil, a legal permanent resident, from the country as he challenges his deportation.
Khalil filed an amended petition and complaint in federal district court in Manhattan on Thursday, stating he was the target of “retaliatory detention and attempted removal of a student protester because of his constitutionally protected speech.” Khalil finished his classes at Columbia in December 2024 and was expected to graduate in the spring, according to the filing.
Immigration authorities are holding the 30-year-old in Louisiana and his lawyers have petitioned for him to be returned to New York City. His wife, an American, is eight months pregnant.
“I urge you to see Mahmoud through my eyes as a loving husband and the future father to our baby,” she said in a statement through Khalil’s defense counsel on Monday. “I need your help to bring Mahmoud home, so he is here beside me, holding my hand in the delivery room as we welcome our first child into this world.”
Trump administration targets campus protesters
Khalil’s arrest marks the first attempt to fulfill President Donald Trump’s campaign pledge to deport international students who protested in support of Palestinians on campuses across the country last spring.
On Tuesday, a doctoral student from India whom DHS accused of supporting Hamas self-deported to Canada. And on Friday, another Palestinian student who took part in Columbia’s protests last year, identified by DHS as Leqaa Kordia, was arrested for allegedly overstaying her student visa.
“It is a privilege to be granted a visa to live and study in the United States of America,” DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said in a statement on Friday. “When you advocate for violence and terrorism that privilege should be revoked, and you should not be in this country.”
DHS agents also raided two Columbia dormitories on Thursday evening, but made no arrests, according to a statement by the university. Commenting on the raids on Friday, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said the Justice Department was “looking at whether Columbia’s handling of earlier incidents violated civil rights laws and included terrorism crimes.”
Civil rights groups and protesters have denounced the federal government’s actions at Columbia as an infringement on free speech. Protesters staged demonstrations this week at both the university and inside Trump Tower, located in Manhattan.
Columbia’s international students have expressed fear, with several telling NBC News on Friday that they are increasingly hesitant to criticize the Trump administration due to fears of repercussions.
