US ICE agents arrest anti-Israel activist who led protests on Columbia University campus for months - Mahmoud Khalil a leader of protests, encampments at Columbia's campus for months

ICE agents arrest anti-Israel activist who led protests on Columbia University campus for months

ICE arrests anti-Israel activist who helped lead Columbia University unrest

Mahmoud Khalil was arrested last night at his university-owned apartment after leading several anti-Israel protests on Columbia's campus.

An anti-Israel activist, who students claim was a leader of protests and encampments on the Columbia University campus in New York City for months, has been arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, according to Fox News sources.

On Saturday, Mahmoud Khalil was taken into custody at his university-owned apartment on the city’s Upper West Side.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio reacted to the arrest and issued a dire warning to anyone supporting the Hamas terror group.

"We will be revoking the visas and/or green cards of Hamas supporters in America so they can be deported," Rubio wrote in a post on X.
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COLUMBIA'S ANTI-ISRAEL PROTESTERS SAY TRUMP PULLING $400M IN GRANTS FROM UNIVERSITY IS A 'SCARE TACTIC'

ICE agents told Khalil that they were acting on a State Department order to revoke his green card and student visa, according to Khalil's attorney, Amy E. Greer of Dratel & Lewis. She released a statement alleging that ICE agents wrongfully arrested Khalil.

"Last night ICE agents wrongfully arrested Mahmoud Khalil, claiming his student visa was revoked – even though Mahmoud is legal permanent resident (green card) and not in the U.S. on a student visa," Greer said. "Confronted with that fact, the ICE agents detained him anyway."



Mahmoud Khalil is seen on the Columbia University campus in New York at an anti-Israel protest encampment on April 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Ted Shaffrey)

Greer said the firm filed a habeas corpus petition overnight on "Mahmoud’s behalf challenging the validity of his arrest and detention."

"Currently, we do not know Mahmoud’s precise whereabouts. Initially, we were informed this morning that he had been transferred to an ICE facility in Elizabeth, New Jersey," Greer added.

"However, when his wife – a U.S. citizen who is eight months’ pregnant and was threatened with arrest as well by the ICE agents last night – tried to visit him there today, she was told he is not detained there."

Greer added that the firm has received reports that Khalil may be transferred as far away as Louisiana.

"We will vigorously be pursuing Mahmoud’s rights in court, and will continue our efforts to right this terrible and inexcusable – and calculated – wrong committed against him," Greer said.

"ICE’s arrest and detention of Mahmoud follows the U.S. government’s open repression of student activism and political speech, specifically targeting students at Columbia University for criticism of Israel’s assault on Gaza. The U.S. government has made clear that they will use immigration enforcement as a tool to suppress that speech. Many individuals and organizations have expressed support for Mahmoud and outrage at the government’s conduct, and have offered their assistance in the legal proceedings. Mahmoud greatly appreciates all of that support, as do we." — Amy E. Greer, attorney at Dratel & Lewis

Fox News reached out to Columbia media affairs, who would not confirm Khalil's status at the university. The Associated Press reported that Khalil graduated from Columbia in December.

"There have been reports of ICE in the streets around campus. Columbia has and will continue to follow the law," the university posted in a statement on the school's website.

"We want to again communicate to our campus community that we have a protocol in place, which includes phone numbers to call in case you are approached on or off campus. Consistent with this protocol, and consistent with our longstanding practice and the practice of cities and institutions throughout the country, law enforcement must have a judicial warrant to enter non-public University areas, including residential University buildings," the statement said.

"Columbia is committed to complying with all legal obligations and supporting our student body and campus community. We are also committed to the legal rights of our students and urge all members of the community to be respectful of those rights."

FEDERAL AGENCIES TO REVIEW COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY'S CONTRACTS, GRANTS AFTER 'FAILURE' TO PROTECT JEWISH STUDENTS


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Anti-Israel agitators staged encampments on Columbia University's campus. (Getty Images)

A Muslim civil rights organization also came to Khalil's defense and claimed he "is a lawful permanent resident" and vowed that the "fight is just starting."

"Columbia University graduate Mahmoud Khalil is a lawful permanent resident of our nation who has not been charged with or convicted of a single crime," CAIR National said in a post on X.

ANTISEMITIC RIOT AT COLUMBIA REACHES BOILING POINT AS AGITATORS TAKE OVER ACADEMIC BUILDING, BARRICADE DOORS

"The Department of Homeland Security's lawless decision to arrest him solely because of his peaceful anti-genocide activism represents a blatant attack on the First Amendment's guarantee of free speech, immigration laws, and the very humanity of Palestinians. We and other civil rights groups are in communication with Mahmoud's legal counsel. This fight is just starting."

The allegation against Khalil stemmed from his alleged involvement in the Columbia University Apartheid Divest group, claiming he had helped organize an "unauthorized marching event" that glorified Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel and played a "substantial role" in the circulation of social media posts criticizing Zionism, the AP reported.

"I have around 13 allegations against me, most of them are social media posts that I had nothing to do with," Khalil told the AP last week.

"They just want to show Congress and right-wing politicians that they’re doing something, regardless of the stakes for students," he added. "It’s mainly an office to chill pro-Palestine speech."



Palestinian flags are seen around the encampment on the campus of Columbia University in New York City on April 23, 2024. (CHARLY TRIBALLEAU/AFP via Getty Images)

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Khalil's arrest comes just days after President Donald Trump threatened to deport foreign students who were involved in what he calls "illegal protests" on campus.

On Friday, the administration announced it would terminate $400 million in federal grants and contracts to Columbia because the Ivy League school was failing to protect Jewish students on campus.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Stepheny Price is a writer for Fox News Digital and Fox Business. She covers topics including missing persons, homicides, national crime cases, illegal immigration, and more. Story tips and ideas can be sent to stepheny.price@fox.com

Source : https://www.foxnews.com/us/ice-agen...ed-protests-columbia-university-campus-months


Note: I completely messed up the formatting the first time. Sorry about that.
 
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Dracula's Spirit Animal said:
The narcissism of these people is unbelievable. I've been in several countries where political unrest is a thing, to various degrees, and as a guest, I remain neutral and do nothing to support or condemn either side. It's basic courtesy, as well as safer.
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Its the same reason that even middle easterners that legally migrate and get actual legit jobs can't help but try to sell their daughters into an arranged marriage and beat the crap out of them if they refuse...send money by wire to Hamas and threaten their neighbors for putting up Christmas lights. The concept of "guest" doesn't register, they are the moral ones in their worldview, everyone else is NPC trash.

They feel they are but temporarily embarrassed Sultans and only use their host country and all it's wealth and freedoms and stability as a means to squint their eyes and pretend they're living in the Islamic world-dominating superpower state they believe to be owed to them within their own lifetime, and have been unjustly frustrated in creating.

They're the Islamic MovieBob - But unlike Bob? Can actually LARP their superior future with a bit more verisimilitude by actually getting a green card so they can legally stand on the street corner and harass Jews without being immediately picked up by the IDF.

They love America, they just wish there was a way to get rid of all those filthy Americans.
 
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Joe Lieberman said:
Davidai is a former Columbia Business School professor who's an Israeli in the US on a green card. I don't want fucking non-citizen kikes to have veto power over who gets to stay in my country.
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Well, that's a shame. Did you forget who's in the White House?
All it takes is one call from the golden pager, and if they have slighted the chosen in any way? They're gone.
 
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I wonder how many of those who are flying hamas and hezsbollah flags are not us born?
They should be a bit conern.
 
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Vect said:
But hold on. He's being described (here and in other articles) as being 'pro-Palestine' and 'anti-Israel' - neither position necessarily being 'pro-Hamas', which is the game that the Netanyahu government likes to play. The closest I can find is Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin saying that he “led activities aligned to Hamas, a designated terrorist organization", which is really fucking weaselly language to justify damning anyone who bad-mouths Israel as a 'terrorist' supporter and using citizenship status to silence them
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He led assaults on college buildings that led to the college buildings being vandalized and staffers assaulted while distributing materials supporting hamas.
 
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He isn’t being deported yet.

Judge temporarily blocks deportation of pro-Palestinian activist, Columbia grad arrested by ICE​


NEW YORK (WABC) -- A federal judge has temporarily blocked the deportation of Mahmoud Khalil, a pro-Palestinian activist and Columbia University graduate who was detained by ICE agents over the weekend, while he weighs the petition challenging Khalil's arrest.

The judge's decision comes as several hundred protesters massed Monday in Lower Manhattan to demand the release of Khalil, who was detained on Saturday.

"He was arrested for speaking out against genocide," said Marian Osman, one of the organizers. "We have a right to free speech. Political speech is protected speech in this country."

After President Donald Trump posted that Khalil would not be the last pro-Palestinian demonstrator arrested, Osman pledged protester would not be intimidated

"We are just getting started," she said. "I do think protesters should be scared. I think protesters should be upset and angry."

Demonstrators carried signs that said, "No political prisoners in the United States" and "Release Mahmoud Khalil."

The arrest of Khalil, a green card holder, also prompted the institution to ramp up security measures in an attempt to thwart any protests.

Columbia public safety has restricted access to three gates on its Morningside Heights campus and it is only open to students, registered guests and alumni.

An attorney for Khalil said Monday afternoon that he is currently being held at a detention facility in Jena, Louisiana. He has not been formally charged with a crime.

His lawyer, Amy Greer, said the agents who took him into custody at his university-owned home near Columbia initially claimed to be acting on a State Department order to revoke his student visa. But when Greer informed them that Khalil was a permanent resident with a green card, they said they would revoke that documentation instead.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations, a national Muslim civil rights advocacy group, said Monday that it is working with Khalil's lawyer and called for his immediate release.

Khalil "is a lawful permanent resident of our nation who has not been charged with or convicted of a single crime," the Washington-based group said in a statement. "The Department of Homeland Security's lawless decision to arrest him solely because of his peaceful anti-genocide activism represents a blatant attack on the First Amendment's guarantee of free speech, immigration laws, and the very humanity of Palestinians."

Some students told Eyewitness News they are outraged.

"I think we need to protect the integrity of this institution as a place where people can feel comfortable sharing all opinions on these subjects," said a Columbia student named Emma. "And I think this is a violation of academic and of human integrity broadly."

Khalil filed a petition in federal court in Lower Manhattan, claiming it has no basis for his detention, other than the federal government is looking to quiet an outspoken activist.

It names Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, Attorney General Pam Bondi, acting ICE New York field office director William Joyce and acting ICE Director Caleb Vitello as respondents.

A federal judge on Monday then temporarily blocked Khalil's deportation while he weighs the petition. A court appearance is scheduled for Wednesday morning.

Last week, the Trump administration announced that it was cutting $400 million in grants and contracts for Columbia University after saying the institution failed to fight antisemitism on campus.

"I think that's going to hurt people who have absolutely nothing to do with this," said a Columbia student named Brian.

The Jewish student, who fears retribution, says the government's decision to pull funding is misguided, but says antisemitism is a deep-seeded issue at the university.

"There's like an embedded systemic problem at Columbia with administrators, faculty and professors," Brian said.

He thinks ICE should go after them, and not the grad student they did arrest, but another student thinks the arrest was the necessary.

"He has been openly antisemitic. He has engaged in just objective wrongdoing, violating university conduct and rules," the student said. "You know, if the administration doesn't do anything, then it is up to our federal government to show up and hold the student accountable."

There is concern that ICE could return to the campus after the Secretary of State Marco Rubio said "we will be revoking the Visas and/or green cards of Hamas supporters in America so they can be deported."

Restrictions at additional college campuses are expected after Barnard College announced it would also be increasing security measures on Monday "due to active concerns for violence."

Khalil is the first person known to be detained for deportation under Trump's promised crackdown on students protesting the war in Gaza. He received a master's degree from Columbia's school of international affairs last semester. His wife, who is an American citizen, is eight months pregnant.

Federal immigration authorities also visited a second international student at Columbia over the weekend and attempted to take her into custody but were prevented from entering the apartment, according to a union representing the student. The woman has not been identified, and it's not clear what grounds ICE had for the visit.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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FieldPiece said:
This guy I swear he's dumber than a molerat! It's true! Check the stat sheets! Yuge idiocy, now that Joshua Graham we like him don't we? The 1911, two world wars won!
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"I pray for the safety of all good people who enter the United States, but we can't expect God to do all the work for us, people!"
Blewberry Nausea said:
He isn’t being deported yet.
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Damn, just when I had my hopes up that one less America-hating foreigner would be living here in a country they hate.
 
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Snekposter said:
"I pray for the safety of all good people who enter the United States, but we can't expect God to do all the work for us, people!"

Damn, just when I had my hopes up that one less America-hating foreigner would be living here in a country they hate.
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looks like they moved him out of the SDY immediately after arrest, so that judge would have no jurisdiction over his fate.
 
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Buttigieg2020 said:
RIP Coach Red Pill.
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Yes exactly!! Except, you know, instead of killing this dude America is just deporting him. But everything else is the same: do NOT go into a foreign country and attend protests/endorse the actions of enemies of that country. If you do, prepare to get reamed.

It’s the same with people who do drugs in Singapore or that stupid Basketball American who brought weed into Russia. You have ALL of the liability (and more) and NONE of the protection of being a local/citizen.

It is Main Character Syndrome at its most obnoxious.
 
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Shepherd said:


looks like they moved him out of the SDY immediately after arrest, so that judge would have no jurisdiction over his fate.
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That's not necessarily the case considering the locus of the events surrounding the controversy originated there. Generally federal courts have jurisdiction over the entire federal system, including federal agencies within their nominal jurisdiction.

And while green card holders are not citizens, and not entitled to the full panoply of rights citizens have, they are entitled to due process. They can't just do something like extraordinary rendition (just kidnapping some guy in another country and bringing him here) in reverse. Or rather they physically can but it might not hold up.
 
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AnOminous said:
That's not necessarily the case considering the locus of the events surrounding the controversy originated there. Generally federal courts have jurisdiction over the entire federal system, including federal agencies within their nominal jurisdiction.

And while green card holders are not citizens, and not entitled to the full panoply of rights citizens have, they are entitled to due process. They can't just do something like extraordinary rendition (just kidnapping some guy in another country and bringing him here) in reverse. Or rather they physically can but it might not hold up.
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If it was a petition for habeas corpus, it must be filed in the district that mohamed the sand nigger is being held. If he was moved across the country, the judges order to grant is void. Revoke and deport.
 
Shepherd said:


looks like they moved him out of the SDY immediately after arrest, so that judge would have no jurisdiction over his fate.
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They definitely had him on a plane to the bayou before the Judge had his slippers on to at least try and moot it.... but they should also know that as Patient Zero of a new way to deport poor innocent POCs? The lawfare on this one was never gonna die easy.
 
Shepherd said:
If it was a petition for habeas corpus, it must be filed in the district that mohamed the sand nigger is being held. If he was moved across the country, the judges order to grant is void. Revoke and deport.
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So if he was moved across the country in between when the petition was filed and when he was in the air, then where was he being "held?" In any event, he can still file in Louisiana. Even Louisiana, considering what it is, is not completely unaware of the existence of the Constitution.

So it's likely he'll get a hearing. That doesn't mean he'll win.

Personally, I don't want him here.

But I don't approve of Sneaky Pete maneuvers like this either.
 
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