What to Know About the Immigration Arrest of Columbia Activist Mahmoud Khalil

The pro-Palestinian activist’s supporters allege that his detention poses a constitutional violation.

Mahmoud Khalil on the Columbia University campus in New York at a pro-Palestinian protest encampment on April 29, 2024. Ted Shaffrey/AP Photo

Columbia University student activist Mahmoud Khalil remains detained in Louisiana as his attorneys challenge his arrest and pending deportation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Khalil, 30, became the face of pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia last spring by acting as a spokesperson for the demonstrators, who opposed Israel’s military response to the Gaza-based Hamas terrorist group’s Oct. 7, 2023, attack.

The early-morning assault on Israeli neighborhoods, military bases, and a music festival resulted in some 1,200 deaths—mostly civilians—and the abduction of 251 more, including some U.S. citizens. Israel swiftly declared war and launched a military campaign that has destroyed much of the Gaza Strip and killed more than 48,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Hamas-controlled health ministry.

The Columbia protests sparked additional demonstrations on college campuses nationwide. Khalil’s arrest by immigration agents on March 8 reignited some of those demonstrations as protesters decried his detention.

The move to deport Khalil comes amid the Trump administration’s ramped-up immigration enforcement efforts across the country.

Officials have promised to prioritize the deportation of individuals who pose public safety or national security threats. Targets have included criminal gang members and those connected to or supporting terrorist organizations.

The Justice Department announced on March 14 that it is investigating potential terrorism offenses committed during last year’s protests at Columbia University, after the school announced on March 13 that it had expelled or suspended some students involved in the takeover of Hamilton Hall and temporarily rescinded the diplomas of others who had graduated.

The Trump administration has also revoked $400 million in federal grants and contracts for the institution, charging that school administrators failed to address allegations of anti-Semitism on campus.

President Donald Trump heralded Khalil’s arrest as the first of “many to come,” noting that his administration would not tolerate “pro-terrorist, anti-Semitic, anti-American activity.”

“We will find, apprehend, and deport these terrorist sympathizers from our country—never to return again,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.

“If you support terrorism, including the slaughtering of innocent men, women, and children, your presence is contrary to our national and foreign policy interests, and you are not welcome here.”

Here’s what to know about Khalil’s case.

Legal Status Revoked

Court documents describe Khalil as a Palestinian who was born and raised in a refugee camp in Syria and holds Algerian citizenship.

He entered the United States on a student visa in or around December 2022 and completed his master’s program at Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs this past December. He is due to graduate in May.

Khalil married a U.S. citizen in November 2023 and became a lawful permanent resident in 2024, according to court documents. He and his wife are expecting their first child in April.

According to Khalil’s attorneys, he and his wife were returning home to their student housing apartment on March 8 when they were approached by immigration agents in plain clothes.

The agents said they were detaining Khalil because his student visa was revoked. When he and his wife provided documentation showing that he was a lawful permanent resident, they were told his green card was also revoked.

Following his arrest, Khalil was transferred to a detention facility at ICE’s New Orleans Field Office. He has not been charged with a crime.

Activism

In April and May of last year, Khalil served as a spokesperson for a group of pro-Palestinian protesters who formed an encampment on Columbia’s Manhattan campus and staged an occupation of Hamilton Hall, the university’s administrative building.

Among the demonstrators’ chief demands was that the Ivy League institution cut financial ties with Israel and companies supporting the nation in its war with Hamas. Khalil garnered national attention as he led negotiations with university administrators on the protesters’ behalf.

The Justice Department is currently investigating Columbia University for potential terrorism offenses committed during those protests, and additional visa and green card revocations are being approved daily, according to Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

Asked about Khalil’s case during an appearance on CBS News’s “Face the Nation” on March 16, Rubio pointed to the activist’s role in the Columbia protests as grounds for his removal.

“This specific individual was the spokesperson, was the negotiator—negotiating on behalf of people that took over a campus, that vandalized buildings,” Rubio said.

“That’s a crime in and of itself, that they’re involved in being a negotiator, the spokesperson [of] this, that, the other. We don’t want it; we don’t need these people in our country.”

Khalil’s attorneys argued in a court filing that the Trump administration’s actions against him were “plainly intended as retaliation and punishment” for his political speech in violation of the First Amendment.

Rubio said the federal government has no obligation to accept visitors who “promote terrorist organizations” or participate in vandalism or riots on college campuses.

“I don’t know when we’ve gotten it in our head that a visa is some sort of birthright. It is not,” he said. “[A visa-holder] is a visitor into our country, and if you violate the terms of your visitation, you are going to leave.”

Pending Deportation

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt advised during a March 11 press briefing that the Trump administration revoked Khalil’s green card in accordance with the Immigration and Nationality Act.

Specifically, the law empowers the secretary of state to revoke a non-citizen’s visa or other form of documentation “at any time, in his discretion.”

The statute adds that “notice of such revocation shall be communicated to the attorney general, and such revocation shall invalidate the visa or other documentation from the date of issuance.”

Federal law also establishes that non-citizens are deportable if their visa or permanent resident status has been revoked, or if their “presence or activities in the United States the secretary of state has reasonable ground to believe would have potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States.”

Leavitt said Khalil was granted the privilege of entry into the United States but “took advantage of that opportunity, of that privilege, by siding with terrorists.”

She said that he not only led campus protests that “harassed Jewish American students and made them feel unsafe” but also distributed flyers displaying the logo of Hamas.

“And I have those flyers on my desk. They were provided to me by the Department of Homeland Security,” Leavitt said, adding that the Trump administration has a “zero-tolerance policy for siding with terrorists.”

Court Battle

U.S. District Judge Matthew Furman has barred the Trump administration from deporting Khalil as the legal challenge of his detention moves forward.

At a March 12 hearing in New York, Khalil’s attorneys noted that they had yet to have a single attorney-client-privileged phone call with him.

They contended that he should be returned to New York so the case could continue there, near his attorneys and his wife.

Khalil’s wife, Noor Abdalla, said his arrest had taken an emotional toll on her and her late-stage pregnancy in a court document.

“Since his arrest, I have neither been able to sleep nor eat. I can feel my baby, and I hope that he is okay, but I know that this stress and all that comes with it is not good for him,” she wrote.

Trump administration officials said Khalil’s continued presence in the United States would fall into the category of having “potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States,” according to a government filing.

Justice Department attorney Brandon Waterman argued for either a dismissal of the case or a change of venue to Louisiana or New Jersey, the two states where Khalil has been held.

Furman did not issue a decision on the venue challenge. Instead, he instructed both parties to work together to set a schedule for submitting their written arguments.

The judge also ordered that Khalil’s attorneys be granted at least one phone call with him that day and another on March 13.

Chase Smith and The Associated Press contributed to this report.