US authorities have arrested a Palestinian graduate student who played a prominent role in last year’s pro-Palestinian protests at New York’s Columbia University.
The student, Mahmoud Khalil, from the university’s School of International and Public Affairs, was reportedly arrested by US Department of Homeland Security agents at his university residence on Saturday.
It was gathered that Khalil was one of the negotiators with university administrators on behalf of the pro-Palestinian student protesters, who set up a tent encampment on a Columbia lawn last year.
Khalil’s detention appears to be one of the first efforts by Trump, a Republican who returned to the White House in January, to fulfil his promise to seek the deportation of some foreign students involved in the pro-Palestinian protest movement.
The 7 October 2023 Hamas attack on Israel and the subsequent Israeli assault on Gaza led to months of pro-Palestinian protests that roiled US university campuses.
A spokesperson for Columbia said the university was barred by law from sharing information about individual students.
Meanwhile, spokespeople for the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of State, which oversees the country’s visa system, have not yet commented on the issue.
Recall that the Trump administration on Friday said it had cancelled government contracts and grants awarded to Columbia University worth about $400 million.
According to the government, the funding cuts and student deportation efforts are due to antisemitic harassment at and near Columbia’s Manhattan campus.
