US immigration authorities arrest Palestinian activist, revoke permanent residency: Lawyer
Mahmoud Khalil, who was one of the leaders of Columbia University’s pro-Palestinian student campus protest movement, was arrested on Saturday night by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, his lawyer told the Associated Press.
The agents said they were acting on orders from the State Department to revoke Khalil’s student visa when they detained him in New York City. When they were told by Khalil’s lawyer, Amy Greer, that he was a permanent resident with a green card, the agent said that was also being revoked.
Greer said that Khalil’s wife – who is eight months pregnant – was not told why the activist was being detained. He has been transferred to an ICE facility in New Jersey.
“We have not been able to get any more details about why he is being detained,” Greer said. “This is a clear escalation. The administration is following through on its threats.”
The Trump administration has threatened to crack down on pro-Palestinian protests in the US, warning that student visas would be revoked if they were deemed to be supporting Hamas. The State Department said on Thursday that it had revoked the visa of one student protester the previous day for “criminal behavior”.
The US government has also announced that it would cut $400m in grants and contracts to Columbia University, accusing the elite educational institute of failing to crack down on antisemitism. Pro-Israel voices have consistently attempted to portray pro-Palestinian protests as antisemitic, despite the large presence of Jewish students among the protesters.
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