House Democrats call for release of pro-Palestine campaigner

Mahmoud Khalil was detained by federal officers at the weekend and is threatened with deportation

Protesters demand the release of Mahmoud Khalil, at Foley Square in New York City on March 10. Getty Images / AFP

A group of Democrats in the House of Representatives on Tuesday called on President Donald Trump's administration to release Mahmoud Khalil, the former Columbia University student detained for his part in pro-Palestine protests on campus.

Mr Khalil was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents at his home at the weekend, and he is being held in a migrant centre in Louisiana. He was born in Syria and is of Palestinian descent, according to an online biography, but is a permanent US resident with a green card. The agents said during his detention, however, that his residency permit had been revoked, according to Mr Khalil's lawyer.

A green card gives the holder all of the protection granted under the US Constitution. They are typically only revoked if fraud during the application process can be proven, if the holder does not maintain US residency or if they have committed a serious crime.

In a letter addressed to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, signed by 14 members of Congress, the politicians said they were “horrified” by Mr Khalil's “illegal abduction”.

“Khalil's personal rights have been violated. He has been denied meaningful access to counsel and any visitation from his family. This is absolutely unacceptable – and illegal,” they wrote, pointing out that he has not been charged with a crime.

“We must be extremely clear: this is an attempt to criminalise political protest and is a direct assault on the freedom of speech of everyone in this country.”

Mr Khalil reportedly expressed fear of retaliation for his participation in the protests. News site Zeteo quoted a leaked email sent by him to Columbia as saying: “I haven’t been able to sleep, fearing that ICE or a dangerous individual might come to my home. I urgently need legal support, and I urge you to intervene and provide the necessary protections to prevent further harm.”

Mr Trump has pledged to stamp out anti-Semitism on university grounds amid the Israel-Gaza war, which led to a wave of campus protests across the country last year. Mr Khalil was chosen as a negotiator for the protesting students, engaging with the university administration over demands to divest from Israeli companies and institutions.

Mr Trump described Mr Khalil as a “radical, foreign pro-Hamas student” and said that his arrest is the first of many to come.

“Mahmoud Khalil was an individual who was given the privilege of coming to this country to study at one of our nation's finest university colleges, and he took advantage of that opportunity, of that privilege, by siding with Hamas terrorists who have killed innocent men, women and children,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Tuesday.

“We have a zero-tolerance policy for siding with terrorists, period.”

White House press secretary accuses pro-Palestine students of 'siding with terrorists'

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Ms Leavitt said Columbia has been given a list of people involved in “pro-Hamas” activity on campus but that the university is refusing to work with DHS on identifying them. “As the President said very strongly in his statement yesterday, he is not going to tolerate that and we expect all America's colleges and universities to comply,” she said.

Columbia has denied reports that the university requested the presence of ICE officials on or near the campus.

“We are engaged with several federal agencies and are doing all we can to be responsive to their legitimate concerns and to take corrective action, under the law, to restore funding,” interim president Katrina Armstrong said in a Monday statement, referring to the Trump administration’s decision to cut $400 million in funding to the university.

Mr Khalil's lawyers have filed a writ for habeas corpus in Manhattan federal court asking it to examine the legal grounds for his detention. They have argued that his detention was illegal because it was retaliation for his role in protests at Columbia, which they say is political speech protected by the First Amendment.

They have also asked the judge to order Mr Khalil be returned to New York, saying his detention in the migrant jail made it difficult to have access to him.

A major protest took place in New York on Monday evening, with demonstrators demanding Mr Khalil's release. Another took place on Tuesday. Demonstrators chanted "we will honour all our martyrs" and "shut it down", holding signs in support of Mr Khalil.

"He's doing good work, standing up for our students, standing up for our human rights, standing up for the people of Palestine, and we're all out here to support him," Sitara, a student at Hunter College who attended the protest, told The National. "We're just trying to get him back home safely."

She added that she does not agree with "anything that is happening right now". "We need more people to mobilise, we need our communities to come together and to support each other, because at the end of the day, what they're trying to do is divide our people," Sitara said.

A donation drive has been set up for Mr Khalil's legal expenses and his family on Chuffed, which raised more than $110,000 at the time of writing.