A federal judge on Monday halted the deportation of Mahmoud Khalil, a former Columbia University graduate student and green card holder, after he was arrested under the Trump administration’s crackdown on pro-Palestinian protesters.
Khalil was detained Saturday night while with his pregnant U.S. citizen wife and quickly filed a petition arguing there was “no basis” for his arrest. He is scheduled to appear in court on Wednesday.
President Donald Trump defended the arrest, calling Khalil a “Radical Foreign Pro-Hamas Student” and vowing that more deportations would follow. Trump claimed, “We will find, apprehend, and deport these terrorist sympathizers from our country — never to return again.”
Khalil’s supporters dispute the accusations, saying he was a mediator and peacemaker in campus protests, not a terrorist sympathizer. Columbia professor Joseph Hawley warned the move “targets dissent” and could endanger free speech on college campuses.
The Trump administration also cut $400 million in funding to Columbia University over alleged failures to combat antisemitism. Security has since been tightened on campus due to “active concerns for violence.”
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