Video shows ICE arresting Mahmoud Khalil
Pro-Palestinian activist remains detained for now
Mahmoud Khalil, a former Columbia University graduate student and pro-Palestinian activist, is fighting deportation after being detained by ICE in Louisiana. Khalil, a green card holder married to a U.S. citizen, was a key figure in protests at Columbia University and Barnard College. FOX 5’s Linda Schmidt has the latest.
NEW YORK - New video shows the arrest of Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil, detained by ICE for his role in anti-Israel protests at Columbia University.
The video, posted to Bluesky by the ACLU, shows "the perspective of his wife, who is 8 months pregnant."
What happened during Khalil's arrest
Khalil, a Columbia graduate, was inside his university-owned apartment Saturday night when several ICE agents entered and took him into custody, his attorney, Amy Greer, said. He has been detained in Louisiana since, and protests have erupted across New York City, including a dramatic sit-in at Trump Tower.
What they're saying:
"Stop resisting," an agent is heard telling Khalil in the video as they restrain him with handcuffs. "You're going to have to come with us."
"He's not resisting," his wife is heard saying. "My love, it's fine," Khalil assures her.
Khalil is then escorted out of the building and into a car as his wife is heard crying and speaking with their lawyer on the phone.
She tries to ask the agents for their names and department, but they do not answer.
"Oh my god, they're literally running away from me," she is heard saying.
"This is federal agents in plain clothes dragging a man from his home as punishment for his speech," the ACLU posted.
Greer later told the Associated Press that she spoke by phone with one of the ICE agents during the arrest, who said they were acting on State Department orders to revoke Khalil’s student visa.
Informed by the attorney that Khalil was in the United States as a permanent resident with a green card, the agent said they were revoking that instead, according to the lawyer.
Protestors gather in Foley Square and march through the streets of Lower Manhattan in protest of the detention of Palestinian student activist and Columbia University student Mahmoud Khalil (not seen) by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)
Who is Mahmoud Khalil?
The backstory:
Khalil, originally from Syria, had his plans to study aviation engineering disrupted by the civil war, leading him to Beirut where he worked for an education nonprofit and attended a Lebanese university.
He earned a bachelor's degree in computer science and continued his studies at Columbia University.
Columbia University student Mahmoud Khalil talks to the press during the press briefing organized by Pro-Palestinian protesters who set up a new encampment at Columbia University's Morningside Heights campus on Friday evening, in New York City, Unite
During protests over the Gaza war at Columbia, Khalil emerged as a student mediator for pro-Palestinian activists, but his visible presence at maskless demonstrations made him a target for accusations of antisemitism.
The other side:
The Columbia Jewish Alumni Association labeled him a "ringleader of the chaos," and a disciplinary committee is investigating allegations against him, including a potential violation of the university's anti-harassment policy.
Khalil's arrest is the first publicly known deportation effort under Trump's promised crackdown on students who joined protests against the war in Gaza that swept college campuses last spring.
The Source: This article uses reporting from the ACLU and Associated Press.