On March 8, 2025, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents detained Mahmoud Khalil, a recent graduate of the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University and lawful permanent resident of the United States (i.e. a green card holder), in apparent retaliation for his pro-Palestinian student activism. The ICE agents reportedly informed Khalil that his green card was being revoked.
Khalil was arrested at his home in Columbia University housing in New York City. At the time of his arrest, he was with his wife, a US citizen. Initially ICE agents informed Khalil that his student visa had been revoked. Khalil and his lawyer, who was speaking to the agents by phone as the arrest unfolded, informed ICE that Khalil was a lawful permanent resident, as opposed to the temporary student visa he held previously, and asked to see an arrest warrant. The ICE agents reportedly did not produce a warrant, responded that Khalil’s green card was being revoked, and arrested him. Khalil’s wife, who was eight months pregnant at the time, was initially informed that he was being detained in Elizabeth, New Jersey. As of March 10, it appeared that Khalil had been transferred to an ICE detention center in Louisiana.
Khalil played a leadership role during the student protests that took place at Columbia University in the Spring 2024, during which students protested Israeli military action in Gaza and demanded that the university divest from companies that do business in Israel. He played a key role in negotiations between the student protesters and the Columbia administration. Khalil is also a member of the Columbia University Apartheid Divest. He has sometimes acted as a spokesperson for the group, and Columbia University is investigating him for possible sanctions related to some of the group’s protest activities and social media posts. US Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin alleged that Khalil had “led activities aligned to Hamas, a designated terrorist organization.”
United States immigration law provides, in relevant part, that in order to strip a person of lawful permanent resident status, the government must demonstrate before an immigration judge that the person has committed a deportable criminal offense. The law does not permit ICE to summarily revoke lawful permanent resident status without due process. Further, Khalil has not been charged with a crime, and public statements by US government officials do not appear to allege that Khalil is guilty of a particular crime (let alone a crime that rendered him deportable); rather, they suggest without detail or evidence that he is deportable under unspecified executive foreign policy authority.
Immediately following his detention, Khalil’s attorneys filed petitions in federal court demanding his release from detention and his return from Louisiana to New York City. On March 10, 2025, a federal district judge in New York City issued a temporary restraining order preventing the government from removing Khalil from the United States pending a hearing on his case.
Scholars at Risk is concerned about the detention and attempt to revoke the green card of a student activist in retaliation for the exercise of his rights to free expression and free association. Authorities have an obligation to refrain from sanctioning or otherwise retaliating against individuals based on their nonviolent expressive activity and must ensure that any legal or immigration procedures follow due process. The use of the justice or immigration systems to punish nonviolent student expression undermines academic freedom and democratic society generally.
Sources:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2025/03/09/columbia-arrest-mahmoud-khalil/
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-takes/2025/03/10/ice-arrests-pro-palestinian-activist
https://apnews.com/article/columbia-university-mahmoud-khalil-ice-15014bcbb921f21a9f704d5acdcae7a8
https://zeteo.com/p/breaking-dhs-detains-palestinian
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/10/nyregion/mahmoud-khalil-ice-louisiana.html
https://www.columbiaspectator.com/news/2025/03/10/department-of-homeland-security-confirms-arrest-of-palestinian-activist-mahmoud-khalil-sipa-24/
https://www.npr.org/2025/03/10/g-s1-52923/immigration-agents-arrest-palestinian-activist-columbia-protests