A Palestine activist who helped lead the Columbia University protests has been arrested

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Mahmoud Khalil, 24, is not a citizen of the United States, but a student living at the border crossing border crossing the border

Mahmoud Khalil, a graduate student at Columbia until this past December, was inside his university-owned apartment Saturday night when several Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents entered and took him into custody, his attorney, Amy Greer, told The Associated Press.

The first of many will come, Trump said in a social media post on Monday. He vowed that his administration “will find, apprehend, and deport these terrorist sympathizers from our country — never to return again.”

The move is meant to reinforce Trump’s efforts to increase deportations and strip protections from those who break the law.

Michael Thaddeus, a mathematics professor at Columbia University, said the move seeking to strip Khalil’s green card and deport him violates the broader trust from foreign students who come to study in the U.S.

“They come because of their trust and belief that they could speak out freely while they’re here and not be imprisoned or harassed because [of] their political speech or activism or advocacy,” Thaddeus said.

First, they told Khalil his student visa had been canceled. But he’s not on a visa; he’s a legal permanent resident. His wife went to get his green card, but the officers told her that he had lost his permanent residency.

Green cards, also known as lawful permanent residency, allow people to live, work and travel as a U.S. citizen would. They can be revoked by an immigration judge for various reasons, including fraud in the application process or for criminal activity.

Khalil’s deportation and the fight for justice in the state of the art: ICE’s response to the news media and high-profile protests

“The government bears the burden of proving the reason that this person is deportable from the United States. And then just depending on what ground we’re looking at, that’s where the fight ensues.”

Secretary of State Marco’s message said the administration would be expelling Hamas supporters in America so they could be deported.

“We will vigorously be pursuing Mahmoud’s rights in court, and will continue our efforts to right this terrible and inexcusable – and calculated – wrong committed against him,” Greer said in a later statement.

Several groups planned rallies and gatherings around Manhattan on Monday in protest of Khalil’s arrest. Thaddeus, the professor, said the campus community was surprised ICE’s first target was someone with a green card, rather than someone without legal status, calling it “horrifying and a little bit unexpected.”

“Consistent with our longstanding practice and the practice of cities and institutions throughout the country, law enforcement must have a judicial warrant to enter non-public University areas, including University buildings,” it said in a statement on Sunday.

The immigration office in the justice department was focused on denaturalization at the end of Trump’s last term. The New York Times reported that 40% of the denaturalization cases the DOJ had ever filed during Trump’s four years in office were brought during that time.

But immigration law experts have said that the number of people who might lie on forms is very small compared to the millions of people who are naturalized or receive green cards each year.

On the ICE arrests of Palestinian activist who helped lead Columbia university protests: Khalil’s lawyer, an American citizen, and a U.S. citizen

The university’s allegations against Khalil focused on his involvement in the Columbia University Apartheid Divest group. He was accused of playing a large role in the circulation of social media posts that criticized Zionism as well as possibly helping to organize an unauthorized marching event.

Khalil’s wife, an American citizen eight months pregnant, was threatened by ICE agents when they arrived at his Manhattan residence Saturday night.

According to his attorney, they were first told that he was at an immigration facility in New Jersey. He wasn’t there when his wife tried to visit on Sunday. As of Sunday night, she had not been aware of Khalil’s location.

We have not been able to get any information about what is happening to him. “This is a clear escalation. The administration is following through on its threats.”

Before entering a university property, law enforcement agents must present a valid warrant, according to a Columbia University spokeswoman. The spokesman declined to comment on the case.

Source: ICE arrests Palestinian activist who helped lead Columbia University protests

Activists in Support of the Anti-Semitism Campaign in the Ivy League: Indirect Deportation of a Green Card Holder

The Department of Homeland Security can initiate deportation proceedings against green card holders for a broad range of alleged criminal activity, including supporting a terror group. But the detention of a legal permanent resident who has not been charged with a crime marked an extraordinary move with an uncertain legal foundation, according to immigration experts.

The founder of a coalition of legal service providers said the action seems to be a reprisal for someone who said something the Trump administration did not like.

As part of the negotiation process for the end to the tent on campus, a man who just finished his master’s degree from Columbia’s school of international affairs, served as a negotiator.

The role made him one of the most visible activists in support of the movement, prompting calls from pro-Israel activists in recent weeks for the Trump administration to begin deportation proceedings against him.

The investigations come as the Trump administration has followed through on its threat to cut hundreds of millions of dollars in funding to Columbia because of what the government describes as the Ivy League school’s failure to squelch antisemitism on campus.

“They just want to show Congress and right-wing politicians that they’re doing something, regardless of the stakes for students,” he added. “It’s mainly an office to chill pro-Palestine speech.”