The White House on Tuesday levied new allegations against Columbia graduate student Mahmoud Khalil amid an aggressive effort to deport him, accusing the Palestinian activist of organizing protests where Hamas propaganda was distributed.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt alleged that Khalil had played a role in organizing demonstrations at which flyers were handed out bearing a logo for Hamas, which she did not display.
“Mahmoud Khalil was an individual who was given the privilege of coming to this country to study at one of our nation’s finest universities and colleges,” Leavitt said at a press briefing, declining to provide examples of Khalil’s alleged involvement with the flyers. “He took advantage of that opportunity, of that privilege by siding with terrorists.”
The comments came as pressure mounted on federal immigration authorities to release Khalil from custody after more than a thousand New Yorkers took to the streets Monday.
More than 150 protesters led by Jewish students at Columbia had gathered on campus Tuesday, demanding the school prohibit federal immigration agents from campus.
“Columbia must commit to protecting its students and their right to free speech. We insist that the university immediately institute a policy prohibiting university officials from sharing information about students or staff to ICE or complying with ICE investigations into Columbia students or staff in the absence of a judicial warrant,” one protester who declined to share their name said.
“Federal agents must never be allowed to enter campus or university owned buildings under any circumstances without presenting a warrant signed by a judge.”
Khalil, a green card holder, remained detained at a processing center in Jena, La., on Tuesday, three days after his arrest by plainclothes cops for the Department of Homeland Security near his Columbia-owned apartment in Morningside Heights. His wife, a U.S. citizen who is eight months pregnant, was threatened with arrest if she didn’t leave the scene, according to Khalil’s lawyers.
A federal judge on Wednesday is set to consider the Trump administration’s aggressive effort to deport him for his involvement in protests against the Israeli government and U.S. involvement in bombings in Gaza and the West Bank.
Manhattan Federal Judge Jesse Furman, handling a habeas corpus petition filed by Khalil’s lawyers, on Monday temporarily slammed the brakes on the student activist’s deportation, saying he could not be removed from the country “unless and until” he orders otherwise. Khalil’s legal team has asked the judge to rule on the lawfulness of his detention and order his return to New York while his immigration matter separately plays out.
A Palestinian native who grew up in Syria, Khalil, 30, completed his studies at Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs in December and had been set to graduate in May. He played a central role in last year’s student-led demonstrations against Israel’s war on Gaza, acting as a mediator between university staff and students.
DHS agents told Khalil on Saturday night that the State Department had revoked his student visa. Informed by his lawyer, Amy Greer, that Khalil wasn’t in the U.S. on a student visa but a green card, the agents said that it was being revoked without mention of due process. Green card holders are protected under the First and Fifth Amendments of the Constitution.
Khalil has not been charged with a crime. In an interview with the conservative outlet The Free Press on Monday, an unnamed White House official said, “The allegation here is not that he was breaking the law,” but that Khalil threatened U.S. foreign policy and national security interests.
President Trump has threatened that Khalil is just the first foreign student activist who will face deportation proceedings, calling them “terrorist sympathizers” in a Monday Truth Social post. The Trump administration has framed any criticism of the Israeli regime as antisemitic and supportive of Hamas, which the U.S. and many other countries designate as a terrorist group.
“The remarks by government officials, including the President, on social media only confirm the purpose — and illegality — of Mahmoud’s detention,” Greer said in a statement Monday.
“He was chosen as an example to stifle entirely lawful dissent in violation of the First Amendment. While tomorrow or thereafter the government may cite the law or process, that toothpaste is out of the tube and irreversibly so.”
Khalil has staunchly denied that he has displayed hatred toward Jews or sympathy for Hamas in his protests for a ceasefire of Israel’s incursion in Gaza and the West Bank, which followed the Oct. 7 terror attacks engineered by Hamas that claimed an estimated 1,200 lives. The Lancet in January reported approximately 64,000 Palestinians have been killed in the conflict.
Axios last week reported that the State Department, in collaboration with DHS and the Department of Justice, planned to launch a new program reliant on AI called “Catch and Revoke” that would target foreign nationals who it determines to be “pro-Hamas.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio is empowered under the Immigration Nationality Act of 1952 to revoke visas from anyone he believes “would have potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States.” After Khalil’s arrest, Rubio shared a social media post by DHS accusing the student activist of leading “activities aligned to Hamas, a designated terrorist organization.”
Whether government lawyers will mention the “Catch and Revoke” program at Wednesday’s hearing is unclear. A spokesman for the Manhattan U.S. attorney’s office, which will represent the government at Wednesday’s hearing, declined to say. DHS spokesmen did not respond to the Daily News’ related inquiries on Tuesday.
Khalil’s arrest on ideological grounds has provoked widespread criticism from people on all sides of the political spectrum and concerns about the future of the right to free speech. It came as the Trump administration announced more than $400 million in cuts to aid Columbia, accusing the Ivy League institution of failing to address antisemitism.
In a statement Tuesday, hundreds of former students at Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) called on the university to ban Immigration and Customs Enforcement from campus, take action to protect student protesters, publicly condemn Khalil’s detention, and use every available means of securing his release.
“SIPA has continually undermined its own curriculum by stifling free speech and remaining silent about the Trump administration’s political targeting of a student activist and soon-to-be father,” the statement read.
“We are witnessing the breakdown of higher education institutions in real time as Columbia and others capitulate to a radical right-wing agenda by sacrificing free speech and critical thinking.”