Isarrestations Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil

New York (AP) – Federal immigration authorities arrested a Palestinian activist on Saturday that played a prominent role in Columbia University’s Protests against IsraelSignificant escalation in the Trump administration’s promise to withhold and deport students activists.

Mahmoud Khalil, a graduate student in Columbia until the last December, was in his university-owned apartment on Saturday night when several immigration and customs enforcement agents came in and led him to custody, his lawyer, Amy Greer, told Associated Press.

Greer said she spoke by phone with one of the ICE agents during the arrest that said they were acting on the state department orders to revoke Khalil’s student visa. Taught by the lawyer that Khalil was in the United States as a resident with a green card, the agent said they instead recalled it, according to the lawyer.

A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson, Tricia McLaughlin, confirmed Khalil’s arrest in a statement on Sunday and described it as “in support of President Trump’s executive orders prohibiting anti -Semitism.”

In one message Shared on x Sunday night, State Secretary Marco Rubio said the administration “will revoke Visa and/or green cards from Hama’s supporters in America so they can be deported.”

The Department of Homeland Security can initiate deportation procedures against the proprietors of green maps for a wide range of alleged criminal activity, including support for a terrorist group. However, the detention of a legal resident who is not indicted for a crime marked an extraordinary step with an uncertain legal foundation, according to immigration experts.

“This seems to be a retaliation act against someone who expressed an opinion that the Trump administration did not like,” said Camille Mackler, founder of immigrant Arc, a coalition of legal service providers in New York.

Khalil, who received his master’s degree from Columbia’s School of International Affair’s last semester, served as a retailer for students as they negotiated with university officials over an end to the tent camping that was performed on campus last spring.

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

Khalil was among them too During the investigation of a new Columbia University Office It has brought disciplinary charges against dozens of students for their pro-Palestinian activism, according to items shared with AP.

The studies come as Trump -Administration has followed through 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 lack of Squelch antisemitism on campus.

The university’s accusations against Khalil focused on his commitment to Columbia University Apartheid Dhest Group. He faced sanctions to potentially help organize an “unauthorized marching event” in which participants glorified Hamas’ 7. October 2023, attacked and played a “significant role” in the circulation of social media posts criticizing Zionism, among other alleged discrimination.

“I have about 13 accusations against me, most of them are social media posts that I had nothing to do with,” Khalil told AP last week.

“They just want to show congress and right -wing politicians that they are doing something, regardless of efforts for students,” he added. “It is mainly an office to cool the pro-Palestine speech.”