Saturday night, Mahmoud Khalil, postgraduate Palestinian student in the Columbia Universityhe was in his ownership department of that house of studies, when several immigration and customs control agents (ICE) of the United States entered and arrested him. This despite having Green Card, which makes it permanent legal resident. The agents told him that his student visa had been revoked and that he would be deported. The President Donald Trump He has compared it with a terrorist sympathizer. Why is this 30 -year -old in the sights of the authorities?
Last year, Mahmoud Khalil helped organize proper protests on the campus of the Columbia Universityin New Yorkand became one of the best known faces of the students who extended in the United States Against Gaza’s War.
Now Khalil is the first victim of Trump’s new policywho promised to end student protests and threatened to deport foreign students who were “supporters of terrorists.”
Several people meet in Foley Square, near an office of the United States Immigration and Customs Control Service, to protest the arrest of Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil. (EFE/EPA/SARAH YENEL).
On Monday, Trump He spoke on his social networks and said that “It is the first arrest of many who will come.” Accused Khalil of being a “pro-hamás radical student.”
“We know there are more students in Columbia and other universities from all over the country that have participated in Proterrorist, anti -Semitic and antiestado unique activitiesand the Trump administration will not tolerate it, ”wrote the president.
On Monday, after knowing the arrest of Khalil, More than 1,000 people manifested themselves in New York demanding his release. In addition, they rejected the presence of ICE in buildings owned by Columbia University.
On Monday, the Federal Judge Jesse Furman blocked the immediate deportation of Khalil and ordered a hearing on the case that will be held on Wednesday in New York.
Who is Mahmoud Khalil?
People protest near an Office of the United States Immigration and Customs Control Service after the arrest of Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil. (EFE/EPA/SARAH YENEL).
In an interview with CNN last year, Mahmoud Kahlil He said he was born as a Palestinian refugee in Syriabut that his family was originally from Tiberíades, Israeli city known in the past for its mix of Jewish and Arabic population.
“As a Palestinian student, I think the liberation of the Palestinian people and that of the Jewish people are intertwined and go hand in hand, and one cannot achieve without the other,” he told CNN when the protest was given at Columbia University.
“Our movement is a movement for social justice, freedom and equality for all,” he said.
Khalil told CNN that he grew up in Syria and graduated in computer science from the American Lebanese University.
Before enrolled at Columbia University, he worked at the Office of Foreign Affairs, Commonwealth and the United Kingdom development.
In 2023, Khalil began studying to obtain a Master in Public Administration at the School of International and Public Affairs of Columbia, a specialization that ended last December.
She is married to an American woman, who is also 8 months pregnant.
Could it be deported despite having the Green Card?
The Secretary of the National Security Department, Kristi Noem, enters the White House on March 10, 2025. (EFE/EPA/JIM LO SCALZO).
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Formally, Mahmoud Khalil He is not accused of any crime. After his arrest, he was taken to an immigration center in New Jersey, and then transferred to a Jena detention center, Louisianaaccording to the records of the ICE.
While the National Security Department said Khalil was arrested as a result of Trump’s executive orders that prohibit anti -Semitism.
The AP agency explained that a holder of a Green Card He is someone who has legal permanent resident status in the United States.
Interviewed by AP, Jaclyn Kelley-Widmer, a law professor at Cornell University and also teaches immigration law, said that permanent legal residents generally have many protections, but that protection is not absolute. He explained that They can be deported if they commit crimes How not to notify immigration officials about a change of direction or participate in a marriage fraud, for example.
On Sunday, the Secretary of State, Marco Rubioannounced in X that the country “will revoke the visas and/or residence cards of Hamas supporters in the United States so that they can be deported.”
For Trump, the proportorous protesters lost their right to remain in the United States for “supporting Hamas,” designated as terrorist organization by Washington.
For her part, Khalil’s lawyer, Amy GererHe said that what happened to his client is a “terrible and inexcusable – and calculated – error,” and described his arrest as part of “the open repression of the US government against student activism and political expression.”
Lawyer Kelley-Widmer explained that according to the Immigration and Nationality Lawthe holders of Green Card They do not need to be convicted to be “expelled.” They could be deported if the Secretary of National Security or the Attorney General have reasonable reasons to believe that they participated in terrorist activities, he added.
Kelley-Widmer wondered whether to participate in protests, as he did Khalilqualifies as terrorist activity.
What the ICE said
Lawyer Amy Greer said the ICE agents stopped Khalil initially they claimed to be acting in compliance with an order from the State Department of Revoke your student visa.
But when Greer informed them that Khalil He was a permanent resident with a Green Card, they replied that they would revoke that documentation, according to AP.
“I think we should be really concerned about what is happening,” The lawyer Kelley-Widmer said to hear the performance of the ICE.
As Khalil It is a legal permanent resident, corresponds to an immigration judge to determine whether or not to be deported.
AP said that Khalil You must receive the accusation documents that explain why it is detained and why the Government wants to expel it, as well as a notification to appear before the Immigration Court.
