A Palestinian activist who led the disruptive anti-Israel protests at both Columbia University and Barnard College has been arrested by ICE agents at his campus apartment, according to his lawyer.
Mahmoud Khalil, a former graduate student who got his undergraduate degree in Beirut and completed his studies at Ivy League Columbia in December, also reportedly faces having his visa revoked and his green card canceled following President Trump’s crackdown on unrest at colleges.
He was inside his university-owned apartment a few blocks from campus Saturday night when ICE agents entered the residence and took him into custody, attorney Amy Greer told AP.
While a student, Khalil headed up student-run group Apartheid Divest, and was a lead negotiator during last spring’s protracted student protest on campus, in which dozens of tents jammed the lawn of the Morningside Heights campus.
He was also a political affairs officer with UNRWA — the United Nations’ agency that supports Palestinian refugees, which Israel says has been infiltrated by Hamas — from June through November 2023, according to his LinkedIn.
Despite graduating months ago, Khalil still lived in school-provided housing due to a policy allowing students to remain on campus for three months after graduating, a source told The Post.
He has remained active in recent disruptive protests, including last week’s takeover of the Milstein Library at Barnard College. Videos and photographs posted on X depict him holding a bullhorn near the library entrance and engaged in discussion with school administrators.
At that same protest, disturbing literature was being distributed purporting to come directly from the “Hamas Media Office,” including one pamphlet reading “Our Narrative… Operation Al-Aqsa Flood,” a reference to the Oct. 7 terror attack that killed more than 1,200 people in Israel and resulted the Gaza war.
Others at the Barnard library takeover passed around trading card-like photos of notorious Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, who was killed by an Israeli airstrike in Lebanon last September.
As agents raided the apartment, the school put out a statement addressing the presence of agents in the vicinity of the campus, and stated its intention not to cooperate with ICE’s lawful actions except where required by law.
“Consistent with our longstanding practice and the practice of cities and institutions throughout the country, law enforcement must have a judicial warrant to enter non-public university areas, including university buildings,” the statement read in part.
“Columbia is committed to complying with all legal obligations and supporting our student body and campus community.”
Last September, Khalil and his group were among those taking part in the Columbia campus takeover at the start of the school year. Local and state leaders, including Gov. Kathy Hochul condemned the protests, calling on school officials to enforce disciplinary codes and impose “swift actions” to punish wrongdoers, a source told The Post at the time.
Khalil told a Post reporter during September’s raucous protests that anti-Israel student organizers were undeterred, and promised to ramp up their actions, including establishing future encampments.
“As long as Columbia continues to invest and to benefit from Israeli apartheid, the students will continue to resist,” Mahmoud Khalil, a graduate student, said.
“Not only protests and encampments, the limit is the sky.”
Last April, during the height of the encampment protests, Khalil told the Columbia Daily Spectator that he was not personally participating in the protests over concerns he would lose his student visa — which allowed him to remain in the US.
He was briefly suspended that month for taking part in the encampment protest at Columbia, but the suspension was reversed the very next day, he told BBC at the time.
“[They said] that after reviewing the evidence, they don’t have any evidence to suspend,” he said.
Last spring’s encampment continued to expand until April 18, when Columbia president Minouche Shafik finally called on the NYPD to enter the campus and break it up after protesters ignored warnings to leave.
Cops arrested 108 participants at Columbia, which sparked a movement of solidarity protests of similar encampments at university campuses across the country.
An ICE agent reportedly told Khalil’s lawyer Greer the agency was enforcing a State Department edict to revoke Khalil’s student visa as well as his green card, pursuant to President Trump’s recent pledge to deport foreign student “agitators” responsible for fomenting campus unrest.
The news comes just days after Trump announced plans to yank about $400 million in federal grants and contracts from Columbia due to its noncompliance with anti-discrimination laws.
https://nypost.com/2025/03/09/us-news/ice-arrests-palestinian-leader-of-columbias-anti-israel-protests-lawyer/
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