Mahmoud Khalil is shown on the Columbia University campus in New York at a pro-Palestinian protest encampment on April 29, 2024. (Photo by AP)
Fearless, furious and unwilling to give up, the people of New York stormed the city streets to call for the release of former Columbia University graduate and Palestinian activist, Mahmoud Khalil.
They started at the Federal Hall in Manhattan and marched across blocks to reach Union Square while chanting against the actions of ICE.
Mahmoud Khalil was arrested by ICE as he entered his apartment building, which is owned by Columbia University.
He was accompanied by his wife, who is a US citizen and is eight months pregnant and was threatened with deportation by ICE if she tried to prevent his arrest.
Khalil is known for his role as a lead negotiator for the Gaza solidarity encampments that occurred last year on the Columbia University campus where he was a student.
ICE claimed to have detained him because his student visa had been revoked. When informed that he's a Green Card holder and a permanent resident, ICE said that that his residence permit had also been revoked.
This is blatantly unconstitutional. What they are doing to Mahmoud, the message that they are trying to send, which is a deplorable one, is that no one is protected under free speech in this country anymore.
Murad Awandeh, New York Immigration Coalition, Head
Protesters called out the Trump administration for its suppression of freedom of speech despite the US boasting that it is a beacon of freedom.
Under the current Trump administration, which many are describing as fascists, Mahmoud Khalil's arrest comes as another violation against freedom of speech, despite it being the first amendment of the American Constitution.
This is part of a broader attack ... against immigrants, against Muslims, against the Palestine, movement, against academic freedoms even with the attacks on universities, they're trying to set a legal precedent to take away these rights, all on a false, false, narrative about what we're speaking up against because ultimately, we're speaking up to end the oppression of the Palestinian people.
Miriam Osman, Palestinian Youth Movement Organizer
Although a New York judge temporarily blocked Trump's order to deport Mahmoud Khalil pending a court hearing, the protesters acknowledged that this was not out of solidarity, but out of fear that Khalid's arrest would set a dangerous precedent and bring the nation to a breaking point.
