The Mahmoud Khalil case is a fight for the soul of America, and there may be no winners

Shubham Ghosh

New York: In a major development which has brought further criticism down on the Donald Trump Administration, Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian student activist at Columbia University, was arrested on the night of March 8, 2025, by US federal immigration authorities for his prominent role in Columbia University’s protests against Israel and the war in Gaza last year. Following his arrest in New York, Khalil was sent to an immigration jail in Louisiana. The Syrian-born 30-year-old spearheaded anti-Israel, pro-Hamas student protests at the university.

‘The first arrest of many to come’

What has made Khalil’s arrest more divisive is that it marks the latest escalation by Trump -- in what he calls “the first arrest of many to come” -- as he clamps down on pro-Palestinian demonstrations on college campuses. The President called Khalil a “radical foreign pro-Hamas student” and said on his Truth Social platform: “We will find, apprehend, and deport these terrorist sympathizers from our country – never to return again.”

The arrest also took place days after Trump pledged to send back foreign students from the US and imprison those involved in “illegal protests”.

Khalil's arrest has deep political and legal implications. His attorney Amy Greer claimed that the arrest was made by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials despite Khalil being a Green Card-holder. The arrest triggered a protest from civil rights advocates. Khalil's lawyers filed a habeas corpus petition challenging the activist’s arrest. They also said that immigration authorities targeted Khalil on the orders of the US State Department to revoke his green card.

What happened on the night of March 8?

The habeas corpus petition said that Khalil was apprehended as he ntered the lobby of his apartment by four ICE personnel in civilian attire with his wife, who is eight-months pregnant. The petition added that the officials identified themselves as being with homeland security and wanted to take the activist into custody. They even allegedly threatened to arrest his wife.

Khalil's wife showed officials his immigration documents citing his legal resident status. She claims the agents were reportedly surprised by the revelation: “The agent looked confused when he saw the documents and said, ‘He has a green card’,” the filing revealed.

But Khalil was still arrested and his wife given no information on where he was being taken, nor why. They also told her that she couldn't talk to anybody about the incident.

Greer said Khalil’s heavily-pregnant wife, who is a US citizen, failed to locate him at an ICE facility in Elizabeth, New Jersey, where it was thought he was transferred. It was later confirmed that Khalil was at a detention centre in Jena, Louisiana.

Khalil’s wife, who has not been named, pleaded for help to have her husband released. In a statement issued on March 10, she said, “I urge you to see Mahmoud through my eyes as a loving husband and the future father to our baby. I need your help to bring Mahmoud home, so he is here beside me, holding my hand in the delivery room as we welcome our first child into this world. Please release Mahmoud Now.”

Why Khalil became the face of the policy

DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said Khalil was arrested by ICE “in support of President Trump’s executive orders prohibiting anti-Semitism”. In a statement on March 9, she accused Khalil of leading activities aligned with Hamas, a designated terrorist organization.

“ICE and the Department of State are committed to enforcing President Trump's executive orders and to protecting US national security,” McLaughlin added. 

Secretary of State Marco Rubio also took a tough stance on the matter. While sharing an article about Khalil, he said on X: “We will be revoking the visas and/or green cards of Hamas supporters in America so they can be deported.”

Columbia University has also come into the line of fire. Authorities recently announced that they was rescinding federal grants worth $400m to the institution, accusing it of failing to tackle antisemitism on campus. The university was one of the major centres of pro-Palestinian student protests.

Who is Mahmoud Khalil?

Born in Syria and an Algerian citizen of Palestinian descent, Khalil completed his Master’s degree from Columbia in December last year. Currently, he is a legal resident of America. He said last spring that he was born as a Palestinian refugee but his family hailed from Tiberias, in Israel which was known for its mixed Jewish and Arab population. Millions of Palestinians were forcibly removed from places like Tiberias during the Arab-Israeli War of 1948.

Khalil grew up in Syria and earned a Bachelor’s degree in computer science from the Lebanese American University. He also worked as a political affairs officer with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees for a brief period.

The agency, which supports Palestinian refugees, was stripped of millions in funding after a report revealed that some of its members took part in Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack against Israel. Twelve-hundred people were killed in the assault.

Khalil is also a prominent member of Columbia United Apartheid Divest (CUAD), which sympathizes with the Palestinians’ cause. Before pursuing his studies at Columbia, Khalil also served in several roles in international development, including with the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. His pursuit of a Master’s degree in public administration at Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs began in 2023, just months before Hamas launched attacks on Israel.

Soon after the War in Gaza began, Columbia Univerity became the epicenter of pro-Palestinian protests that swept across campuses around the country. The institution -- which has a tradition of staging anti-war protests going back to the Vietnam War -- saw demonstrators set up encampments on the campus, holding rallies and organizing “teach-ins”. There were also instances of antisemitism in the protests which Khalil rejected.

“There is, of course, no place for antisemitism,” he was quoted as saying by CNN in April last year. “What we are witnessing is anti-Palestinian sentiment that’s taking different forms and antisemitism, Islamophobia, racism [are] some of these forms.”

According to Khalil, he stayed away from actively participating in the student encampments because he did not want to risk his student visa. He decided to only give speeches and was picked as one of the negotiators representing CUAD which wanted the university to divest from its financial ties to Israel and push for a ceasefire in Gaza.

Khalil’s support for the pro-Palestine movement saw many pro-Israel advocates urge the Trump Administration to deport him. Records also showed that Khalil was among those investigated by Columbia University which began disciplinary action against several pro-Palestinian students.

Speaking about Khalil’s arrest, university officials denied that they had called ICE officials. However, sources said the university’s faculty were targeting Khalil and he even requested legal protection against a possible intervention by ICE and other dangerous individuals just days ahead of his arrest.

What are Khalil’s supporters saying?

Several legal experts have called for Khalil’s release. A federal judge even blocked his deportation from the US while looking into a petition challenging the arrest, court papers showed. Judge Jesse Furman in a notice ordering a conference in the case on Wednesday, March 12 said: “To preserve the Court's jurisdiction pending a ruling on the petition, Petitioner shall not be removed from the United States unless and until the Court orders otherwise.”

The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE), one of the leading defenders of fundamental rights on college campuses in the country, wrote to a number of top officials from the Trump Administration, including Rubio, questioning the specifics around Khalil’s arrest including the specific legal and factual basis for his detention, legal and factual basis for revoking Khalil’s green card and whether he would be given due process protections under law.

Civil liberties organizations and academics have also raised the alarm at the detention of Khalil saying the justification of antisemitism is being used as a smoke screen to target pro-Palestinian views in the US.

Can Khalil be deported?

Under the US Immigration and Nationality Act, holders of a Green Card need not avoid run-ins wit the law. They could be deported sent back if the homeland security secretary or the attorney general had grounds to believe that they engaged in or could engage in terrorist activities.

In order to deport Khalil, authorities must establish that he breached the US’s immigration regulations. In Khalil's case, officials have to prove that his conduct went beyond speeches that are constitutionally protected or that he or his connections pose a major threat to national security.

Khalil’s representatives have claimed that no valid basis exists as of now to either revoke his residency in the US or restrict him to custody. While a summons for immigration court procedures is the next thing Khalil can expect, it remains to be seen where the Trump administration goes from here to withdraw Khalil’s permanent residency.