U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian activist who graduated from Columbia University and led radical protests there, on Saturday, a sign of a Trump administration crackdown.
President Donald Trump campaigned on a promise to deport foreign students who were fomenting anti-Israel and antisemitic protests on campus, which exploded under President Joe Biden in the wake of the October 7, 2023 terror attack by Hamas in Israel.
Barely ten days after taking office, Trump signed an executive order combating antisemitism on campus, in which he mentioned that foreign students involved in radical protests could be deported.
Last week, Trump reiterated that threat on his Truth Social platform, warning “agitators” they would be deported:
On Saturday night, President Trump apparently made good on his promise.
FILE – A U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer looks on during an operation in Escondido, Calif., July 8, 2019. Immigration enforcement arrests in the interior of the U.S. fell over the past year as the Biden administration shifted its enforcement focus to people in the country without legal status who have committed serious crimes. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull, File)
The New York Post reported:
Columbia University Apartheid Divest leader Mahmoud Khalil, who completed his graduate studies at Ivy League Columbia in December, also potentially faces having his visa revoked and his green card canceled following President Trump’s crackdown on unrest at colleges, attorney Amy Greer said Sunday.
He was inside his university-owned apartment a few blocks from campus Saturday night when ICE agents entered the residence and took him into custody, Greer said.
Despite graduating months ago, Khalil, who earned his undergraduate degree in Beirut, still lived in school-provided housing due to a policy allowing students to remain on campus after graduating, a source told The Post.
The Trump administration canceled some $400 million of grants to Columbia last week because of its perceived decision to ignore antisemitism. Campus activists have continued to protest against Israel, even endorsing violence.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of The Agenda: What Trump Should Do in His First 100 Days, available for pre-order on Amazon. He is also the author of The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency, now available on Audible. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
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