ICE Arrests Columbia Graduate Mahmoud Khalil; DHS Says He Led Activities Aligned to Hamas
On March 9, 2025, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security issued a statement confirming that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) had arrested Mahmoud Khalil, a former Columbia University graduate student. According to his lawyer, agents took him into custody on the evening of March 8 at his home in Manhattan, New York City, New York.
"On March 9, 2025, in support of President Trump's executive orders prohibiting anti-Semitism, and in coordination with the Department of State, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested Mahmoud Khalil, a former Columbia University graduate student," the department said. "Khalil led activities aligned to Hamas, a designated terrorist organization. ICE and the Department of State are committed to enforcing President Trump's executive orders and to protecting U.S. national security."
Khalil, a Palestinian who graduated from Columbia's School of International and Public Affairs in 2024, was one of the leading figures in the university's pro-Palestinian campus protests. He holds a green card as a lawful permanent resident; according to his lawyer, agents initially said his student visa had been revoked and arrested him anyway after being told of his permanent resident status. No criminal charges against him were announced on the day of the arrest.
The arrest followed President Trump's January 29 executive order combating anti-Semitism and his stated intention to deport foreign students who took part in such protests, and it was the first widely reported arrest of a student activist under that policy. Khalil was transferred to an immigration detention facility out of state; on March 10, U.S. District Judge Jesse Furman in the Southern District of New York ordered that he not be deported while the court considered his case. Later proceedings in his detention and removal case are covered separately. (Source: U.S. Department of Homeland Security)
Source: U.S. Department of Homeland Security
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：哥伦比亚大学莫宁赛德校区地标洛氏纪念图书馆（Low Memorial Library）（Ajay Suresh，CC BY 2.0，Wikimedia Commons）。 / Image: Low Memorial Library, the landmark of Columbia University's Morningside Heights campus (Ajay Suresh, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons).
