Who is Mahmoud Khalil? Graduate of Pro-Palestinian University Columbia arrested by ice

The student, Mahmoud Khalil, at the University International and Public Business School, was arrested on Saturday by the US Internal Security Department at his university residence, the student workers of the Columbia Union was said on Saturday.

Khalil was one of the main negotiators with the school administrators on behalf of the protesters Pro-Palestinian students, some of them setting up a tent camp on a lawn in Colombia last year and took control of an academic building for several hours in April, before the Police entered Campus to arrest. Khalil was not in the group that occupied the building, but was a mediator between Colombia challenges and protesters.

Khalil’s detention seems to be one of Trump’s first efforts, a Republican who returned to the White House in January, to fulfill his promise to request the deportation of foreign students involved in the pro-Palestinian protest movement. October 7, 2023, the Hamas attack on Israel and the subsequent Israeli attack on Gaza led to months of pro-Palestinian protests that stepped on the US university campuses.

Khalil’s wife is an American citizen and has a green book of permanent residence, said the union. He remained in detention on Sunday. Khalil’s wife refused to comment through one of Khalil’s colleagues.

A spokesman for Colombia said that the school was prevented by law from sharing information about individual students.

Trump spokesman, Department of Internal Security and State Department, who supervise the country’s visa system, did not answer questions. It was not clear for what reasons the DHS agents arrested on Khalil.

In an interview with Reuters, a few hours before his arrest on Saturday about Trump administration criticisms, Khalil said he was concerned that he was targeted by the government to talk to the media.

Trump cancels contracts

The Trump administration said on Friday that it has canceled the government contracts and subsidies granted to the University of Colombia worth about $ 400 million. The government said that the discounts and efforts to deport the students are due to the anti -Semitic harassment on the Manhattan campus in Colombia and near Colombia.

“What can Colombia do to calm the Congress or the government now?” Khalil said before his arrest, mentioning that Colombia has been calling for the police twice to arrest the protesters and disciplined many students and pro-Palestinian staff, suspending some. “Basically, they have been silent on anyone who supports Palestine in campus and this was not enough. Clearly, Trump uses protesters as a scapegoat for his wider agenda that fights and attacks higher education and the Ivy League education system.”

In response to the subsidy discounts announced on Friday, the interim president of Colombia, Katrina Armstrong, said the school was committed to combat anti -Semitism and that “works with the federal government to address their legitimate concerns.”

Khalil and his colleagues have been calling for Columbia University for several years to conclude investments in weapons and companies that support the Israel’s army. Colombia said last year that it will consider accelerating some of the students’ requirements through its investment committee.

The friend “terrified” by arrest

Maryam Alwan, a Palestinian American senior in Colombia, who protested with Khalil, said the Trump administration has dehumanized Palestinians.

“I am horrified for my dear friend Mahmoud, who is a legal resident and I am terrified that this is just the beginning,” she said.

US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, said last week that international students supporting Hamas, the Islamist militant group that the US has appointed as a terrorist organization, is facing the revocation and deportation of visas.

On Thursday, Colombia issued a revised protocol for how students and school staff should deal with American immigration agencies and customs execution who want to enter the private school.

The school said that ICE agents without a judicial arrest warrant can be allowed to enter its private property in “demanding circumstances”, which it did not specify.

“By allowing ice on campus, Colombia surrenders to the attack of the Trump administration on universities across the country and sacrificing international students to protect their Finance,” said students from Colombia in his statement.

Khalil lives in a university apartment building near the closed campus of Colombia.

(Report by Jonathan Allen; Edit by Scott Malone and Lisa Shumaker)