Protests erupt after Columbia student’s arrest

Hundreds of protesters gathered in lower Manhattan to demonstrate against the arrest of Columbia University student-activist Mahmoud Khalil by U.S. Department of Homeland Security agents on Saturday. Khalil, a graduate student at Columbia's School of International and Public Affairs, was apprehended in front of his pregnant wife, a U.S. citizen, with agents informing him that his student visa had been revoked.

However, Khalil has held a U.S. permanent residency green card since 2024, and his wife presented the agents with this documentation. Despite this, the agents threatened to arrest the wife if she did not leave the lobby and claimed that Khalil's green card had also been revoked, without providing a reason.

Khalil has since been transferred to a federal jail for migrants in Louisiana, where he awaits deportation proceedings. Lawyers for Khalil have filed a legal challenge to his arrest in the U.S. district court in Manhattan, arguing that his detention is motivated by his "criticism of U.S. institutions that support Israel," which they say is protected by the First Amendment.

The Trump administration has not accused Khalil of any crime, but President Trump has criticized Columbia University's handling of the protests, claiming that some students have engaged in "pro-terrorist, anti-Semitic, anti-American activity" that he will not tolerate.

Khalil and other activists, however, maintain that their criticism of Israel and U.S. government support for the country is being wrongly conflated with antisemitism. They note that Jewish students are among the protest organizers, and argue that their dissent is a legitimate exercise of free speech.

The case has sparked outrage among civil liberties advocates and human rights groups, who see it as a troubling example of the Trump administration's crackdown on dissent and its willingness to target individuals for their political views.