Since Donald Trump took office earlier this year, there have been moments of tension for immigrants living in the United States. Last weekend, a particular student drew attention after being arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents.
It was Mahmoud Khalil, a student at Columbia University in New York, who was the first detainee under the new policy of President Trump’s administration, which aims to end student protests and deport foreign students “sympathetic to terrorists.”
Who is Mahmoud Khalil, the Palestinian student that ICE arrested under new policies from Donald Trump?
Mahmoud Khalil is a Palestinian refugee who was raised in Syria and is a graduate student at the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University. Khalil became known for being one of the most prominent voices in the student protests that took place last year. The main purpose of these protests was against the war in Gaza.
According to the BBC, Khalil is facing possible deportation, even though at the time of his arrest he had a permanent residency permit in the United States. However, after the arrest, his lawyer, Amy Greer, was informed by immigration officials that Khalil’s residency permit had been revoked.
On his social network, Trtuh Social, Trump stated that the arrest of Khalil “is the first of many arrests to come.” The U.S. president accused him of being “a foreign radical student supportive of Hamas.”
Khalil was arrested at his home - property of the university - when he and his wife, who is a U.S. citizen and 8 months pregnant, had just returned from dinner.
The BBC also pointed out, however, that the deportation attempt has been temporarily blocked by a federal judge. The authority will review the case in an emergency hearing scheduled for this Wednesday, March 12th.
Khalil’s wife, on the other hand, expressed in a statement that the country’s immigration authorities had “ripped out her soul”: "Instead of preparing the baby’s room and washing clothes in anticipation of our first child, I sit in our apartment, wondering when Mahmoud will have the opportunity to call me from a detention center," said the woman, who has not been identified.