A prominent Palestinian activist who helped lead Columbia University’s protests against Israel over the war in Gaza is evidently being detained by US immigration authorities at a facility in Louisiana after his arrest, according to information from officials.
A spokesperson for the US’s homeland security department – as well as the country’s top diplomat – confirmed the arrest of Mahmoud Khalil, a graduate student at Columbia University until this past December who holds permanent US residency..
In a statement on Sunday to the Associated Press, homeland security department spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said Khalil’s arrest was made to support Donald Trump’s presidential orders “prohibiting antisemitism”.
The department alleged that Khalil’s activism constituted “activities aligned to Hamas”.
Trump’s secretary of state, Marco Rubio, also confirmed the arrest, adding on X: “We will be revoking the visas and/or green cards of Hamas supporters in America so they can be deported.”
Khalil served as lead negotiator for the Gaza solidarity encampment at Columbia University last spring. On Monday, an online tracker administered by the US’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) indicated he was at the LaSalle detention center near the central Louisiana community of Jena. The facility is operated by the private contractor GEO Group.
According to Zeteo, which first reported on the arrest, Khalil’s attorneys did not immediately know where he was being detained. The same tracker showing Khalil in custody in Louisiana on Monday indicated Sunday that he was at an immigration detention center in New Jersey.
But when Khalil’s wife, a US citizen who is eight months pregnant, attempted to visit him at the New Jersey center, she was reportedly told he was not there.
Khalil was detained by Ice agents despite having a green card and therefore being a permanent US resident. Khalil’s attorney said Ice agents hung up the phone during the detainment when she asked if they had a warrant.
“The Trump administration’s outrageous detention of Mahmoud is designed to instill terror in students speaking out for Palestinian freedom and immigrant communities,” said Jewish Voices for Peace in a statement on the arrest. “This is the fascist playbook. We all must fiercely reject it, and universities must start protecting its students.”
Trump has vowed to target foreign students for deportations as well as “agitators” involved in protests on US college and university campuses. The second Trump administration has made a specific focus of Columbia University, recently announcing the cancellation of $400m in grants over claims the school isn’t doing enough to combat antisemitism.
A Zionist activist group, Betar USA, claimed credit for releasing Khalil’s name to the Trump administration, praising his detainment. The Anti-Defamation League has listed the group as a hate group – the only Jewish group on the list.
“This blatantly unconstitutional act sends a deplorable message that freedom of speech is no longer protected in America,” Murad Awawdeh, president and CEO of New York Immigration Coalition, said in a statement on Sunday afternoon. “Furthermore, Khalil and all people living in the United States are afforded due process.
“A green card can only be revoked by an immigration judge, showing once again that the Trump administration is willing to ignore the law in order to instill fear and further its racist agenda. DHS must immediately release Khalil.”