Pro-Palestinian student involved in protests detained in the US. Will the green card be canceled?
10 March 18:27
The US Federal Migration Service has detained Mahmoud Khalil, who participated in anti-Israeli protests at Columbia University. This is the first detention after President Donald Trump’s threats to students who hold “illegal protests.”
AP writes about it, "Komersant Ukrainian" reports.
Mahmoud Khalil was a student at Columbia University until December. He was detained when he was in his apartment, which belongs to the university.
The detainee’s lawyer, Amy Greer, said that she spoke on the phone with one of the immigration agents during the arrest. He said that they were acting on orders from the US State Department to revoke Khalil’s student visa. And when the lawyer told him that Khalil was in the United States as a permanent resident with a green card, the agent said they were revoking it instead.
According to Greer, Khalil’s wife, a U.S. citizen who is eight months pregnant, was also threatened with arrest.
A spokeswoman for the US Department of Homeland Security confirmed Khalil’s arrest. The government stated that the arrest was made in “support of President Trump’s executive orders banning anti-Semitism.”
Mahmoud Khalil earned his master’s degree at the Columbia School of International Affairs last semester. And during the student protests, when protesters argued with the university administration about the dismantling of the tent city, he acted as a “negotiator” for the students.
The ministry explained that the arrest was directly related to Khalil’s role in the protests, claiming that he “led Hamas-related activities.”
In general, deportation proceedings can be initiated against green card holders for a number of crimes, including support for a terrorist group.
However, according to the AP, Khalil has not been charged.
Khalil’s lawyer said that they were notified of her husband’s detention at an immigration detention center in New Jersey. But when his wife tried to visit him, it turned out that Khalil was not there. His whereabouts are still unknown.
What was the background?
The District of Columbia in New York became the center of student demonstrations against Israel after the escalation of hostilities in the Gaza Strip. Some of the protesters were accused of supporting the Palestinian group Hamas.
In late February, two students from Barnard College, affiliated with Columbia University, were expelled for disrupting a lecture on the History of Modern Israel course. The protesters covered their faces with kufias in solidarity with the Palestinians. In the classroom, they handed out leaflets calling for “Crush Zionism” with a picture of a boot over a Star of David.
Recently, the protesters occupied the historic college building for several hours, beating drums and chanting “Free Palestine.”
US President Donald Trump said he would cut off federal funding for any college, school or university that allows “illegal protests.” And he threatened the “agitators” with imprisonment or deportation.
The U.S. Department of Justice announced that its task force will visit the campuses of a dozen universities that have “documented incidents of anti-Semitism.”
