• Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia University graduate, was detained for participating in pro-Palestine protests, sparking widespread outrage over the chilling of free speech.
• NYCLU & Columbia students condemned the arrest as a dangerous precedent for political activism. Thousands rallied for his release; further arrests were unjustly made.
Social media users, human rights activists, and free speech advocates have voiced outrage following the detention of Mahmoud Khalil, a recently graduated Columbia University student, by US immigration authorities. Khalil was arrested for participating in pro-Palestine protests on campus.
Khalil, a US permanent resident, was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents on Saturday when he returned home to his student residence with his wife, who is eight months pregnant. Despite his wife’s attempt to prove Khalil’s residency status by presenting his green card, an agent responded that his green card would now be revoked.
Khalil’s arrest follows the State Department’s recent announcement of plans to use AI to revoke visas of foreign students deemed “pro-Hamas.” His detention triggered widespread concern, with critics warning it sets a dangerous precedent for immigrants advocating for Palestine and for broader free speech rights.
“This is a system test,” wrote one social media user, emphasising fears that Khalil’s case is intended to intimidate pro-Palestine activists.
An Action Network petition demanding Khalil’s release gathered over a million signatures within a day. Columbia students and associates described Khalil as a calm, kind presence during protests.
“Mahmoud Khalil is a kind, tireless advocate for justice,” one student wrote”. His kidnapping is heartbreaking.”
Another student added: “As a Jewish student at Columbia… Mahmoud is one of the kindest, safest, most welcoming people I have ever encountered.”
Many have accused Columbia University of cooperating with DHS in Khalil’s detention, though the university claimed in a statement that it remains “committed to complying with all legal obligations and supporting our student body and campus community.”
Former UN human rights official Craig Mokhiber urged Columbia faculty to act, warning: “History will judge harshly those who remain complicit through their silence… Speak up now, loudly and publicly.”
The New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU) condemned Khalil’s detention as an “extreme attack on his First Amendment rights” and an “aggressive abuse of immigration law.”
“Ripping a student from their home… based on political viewpoint will chill student speech and advocacy across campus,” NYCLU said.
The National Students for Justice in Palestine (NSJP) called for a day of action, warning universities that “succumbing to federal pressure by repressing your students will not save you.”
Khalil’s arrest came days after the Trump administration announced Columbia would lose $400 million in federal grants and contracts over accusations it failed to combat antisemitism. Despite Columbia’s crackdowns on pro-Palestine activism, critics noted that the university was still being penalised.
On Monday, Donald Trump declared Khalil’s arrest “the first of many to come,” adding that his administration “will find, apprehend, and deport these terrorist sympathisers… never to return again.”
For many, Khalil’s arrest is seen as part of a broader attempt to silence pro-Palestine activism.
“So we can’t live in Palestine (freely or alive), can’t live in the US (freely), can’t live in refugee camps… can’t live. That’s the end goal — to disappear the Palestinian people,” one Palestinian social media user wrote.
Khalil’s lawyer, Amy Greer, states that he was, “wrongfully arrested by ICE agents who claimed his student visa was revoked, even though Mahmoud is a legal permanent resident (green card holder) and not in the U.S. on a student visa”.
On Monday, several New Yorkers protesting for Khalil’s release were aggressively arrested by the NYPD.
