An Obama-appointed judge Monday temporarily blocked the deportation of a Palestinian foreign national behind protest activities at Columbia University.
U.S. District Court Judge Jesse Furman ordered the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) not to remove Mahmoud Khalil, a Syrian-born Palestinian activist and current green card holder, until a lawsuit challenging his detention is considered, according to court documents. The Trump administration argues Khalil’s protest activities were sympathetic to the Hamas terrorist organization and has vowed his arrest to be the first of many against extremist foreign students.
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Furman — appointed to the Southern District Court of New York by former President Barack Obama — placed a hold on Khalil’s deportation “unless and until the Court orders otherwise.” A hearing for his court case has been set for Wednesday.
Following Khalil’s arrest by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents Saturday, President Donald Trump said his administration had no tolerance for pro-terrorist and anti-Semitic behavior by foreign students.
“Following my previously signed Executive Orders, ICE proudly apprehended and detained Mahmoud Khalil, a Radical Foreign Pro-Hamas Student on the campus of Columbia University,” Trump posted Monday on Truth Social. “This is the first arrest of many to come.”
“We know there are more students at Columbia and other Universities across the Country who have engaged in pro-terrorist, anti-Semitic, anti-American activity, and the Trump Administration will not tolerate it,” the president continued. ” If you support terrorism, including the slaughtering of innocent men, women, and children, your presence is contrary to our national and foreign policy interests, and you are not welcome here.”
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A DHS statement announcing Khalil’s arrest accused him of leading activities that were “aligned to Hamas.”
Khalil, who graduated from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs, became the face of his school’s protest movement during the Israel-Hamas war. However, the administration and critics say his activism broke the law and crossed the line into anti-Semitic behavior.
Khalil considered himself the “lead negotiator” for Columbia University Apartheid Divest, an organization on the front lines of an illegal encampment in April 2024 that saw protesters occupying a school building, praising Hamas’ Oct. 7 massacre in Israel, assaulting Jewish students, setting up tents and refusing to leave until law enforcement disbanded them. The Syria-born protester told a journalist at the encampment he was “negotiating” with the school “to meet our demands” to divest from companies linked to Israel — while in the process of earning his master’s degree.
Betar US, a pro-Israel group, in January provided the Trump administration a list of pro-Hamas students and faculty to deport, with Khalil’s name being one of the 120 on the list.
“We commend the Trump administration for commencing deportations,” Betar said to the Daily Caller News Foundation following Khalil’s apprehension by ICE agents. Betar spokesperson Daniel Levy said he was “glad” to see this first step, but added that more action is needed.
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While claiming to be in the United States on a student visa during his protest activity, Khalil now appears to have obtained permanent residency. ICE’s database confirms he is currently being held in the LaSalle Detention Facility in Louisiana.
The protests that rocked Columbia were part of nationwide student protests against Israel’s response to the Oct. 7 massacre at the hands of Hamas terrorists. Trump promised a crackdown on foreign student protesters who engaged in anti-Semitic and extremist activity, and took presidential actions to combat anti-Semitism on college campuses.
The Trump administration revoked $400 million in grants and contracts from Columbia University earlier in March, citing the school’s failure to squash anti-Semitic activity on campus.
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First published by the Daily Caller News Foundation.
