ICE apprehends and aims to repatriate Palestinian demonstrator in New York: NPR

Mahmoud Khalil, a recent Palestinian graduate student at Columbia University and green-card holder, was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers over the weekend in what is likely one of the first high-profile detentions of a student who participated in the protests against the Israel-Hamas war.

The arrest follows through on one of President Trump’s executive actions, which directed the government to use all of its tools to punish those who have engaged in “antisemitic harassment and violence.” The executive action cites the federal law that authorizes deporting a foreign national who “endorses or espouses terrorist activity.”

The move is an escalation in Trump’s effort to increase deportations from the U.S. and strip protections from those who violate the new administration’s priorities.

Michael Thaddeus, a mathematics professor at Columbia University, said the move seeking to strip Khalil’s green card and deport him violates the broader trust from foreign students who come to study in the U.S.

“They come because of their trust and belief that they could speak out freely while they’re here and not be imprisoned or harassed because [of] their political speech or activism or advocacy,” Thaddeus said.

Khalil was one of the Palestinian students who negotiated on behalf of the campus protesters who pressed Columbia to divest from Israel over its war with Hamas in Gaza.

Amy Greer, Khalil’s attorney, told NPR that ICE officers arrested Khalil in the lobby of his university-owned apartment.

First, they told Khalil his student visa had been canceled. But he’s not on a visa; he’s a legal permanent resident. His wife went to get his green card from their apartment, but officers said his lawful permanent residency had been revoked.

“I demanded to see a warrant or have a warrant shown to me or Mr. Khalil before they removed him, and the agent hung up the phone on me,” Greer said. “Mr. Khalil was under the impression that as a lawful permanent resident, that he had some modicum of protection that may not exist for people who do have student visas or who are undocumented.”

His wife, a U.S. citizen, later discovered he had been transferred to a detention facility in Louisiana, Greer said.

Government has burden to prove deportation

Green cards, also known as lawful permanent residency, allow people to live, work and travel as a U.S. citizen would. They can be revoked by an immigration judge for various reasons, including fraud in the application process or for criminal activity