“Shame”. It was by shouting in chorus these words in Manhattan on Monday afternoon, that more than a thousand demonstrators denounced the sudden arrest in the United States of Mahmoud Khalil, a figure of pro-Palestinian demonstrations of Columbia University. Arrested by the Federal Immigration Police (ICE), the activist is currently detained in Louisiana until Wednesday, March 12, when a hearing is planned. If a New York judge temporarily blocks the expulsion of the Syrian national of the United States, the case highlights the Trumpist policy which currently affects American universities.
A student suspected of “anti-American activities”
It all started on March 8 when Mahmoud Khalil, spokesperson for the Pro-Palestinian student movement, was arrested at his home on the Columbia campus by the ICE. According to the online database From the federal immigration police detainees, the Columbia graduate was first placed in a New Jersey establishment, before being put into detention in Louisiana. According to Mahmoud Khalil’s lawyer Amy Greer, the ICE agents first mentioned a revocation of her student visa, before discovering that he had held a green card since 2024 guaranteeing him a right of residence and work in the United States. Status that the federal police then threatened to withdraw to him. However, a green map can only be revoked by an immigration judge.
If the ICE has targeted the Syrian national, it is because the Trump administration accuses him, without evidence, of material support for Hamas and “anti-American” activities because of his pro-Palestinian activities. “He carried out activities related to Hamas, an organization designated as a terrorist,” said Tricia McLaughlin, one of the spokesperson for the Department of Internal Security.
American universities in the viewfinder of Donald Trump
If we believe the lyrics of the cantor of Maga (Make America Great Again), this repression should not be a unique case. “This is the first arrest of a long list. […] We know that there are other students in Columbia and other universities who participated in pro-terrorist, anti-Semitic, anti-American activities and the Trump government will not tolerate it. […] We are going to find, stop and expel these terrorist sympathizers, “threatened Donald Trump on his Truth Social network.
According to the Syndicate of Student Workers of Columbia University, agents have tried to arrest at least another foreign student, at the start of campus residences. And this, even before the arrest of the spokesperson for the movement. For over a year, Columbia has been the epicenter of pro-Palestinian demonstrations. A position worth to the institution to be in the collimator of Donald Trump. Last Friday, he announced the abolition of $ 400 million in subsidies in Columbia, which he accused of inaction in the face of “anti-Semitic acts”.
For Donna Lieberman, president of the New York Branch of the Rights Defense Organization (ACLU), these intimidation constitute a “turning point” which has the “objective of scare”. The coalition of students for solidarity with Columbia Palestine is also concerned about the future: “If Mahmoud Khalil can be removed from its permanent resident status […] So no immigrant or international student of any American campus is safe. “