Terror as Trump sends Columbia grad Mahmoud Khalil to black site

The “abduction and detention” of Mahmoud Khalil, a recent graduate of Columbia University in New York, has sent a chill across US campuses.

Khalil, an Algerian citizen of Palestinian heritage and a US green card holder, who has served as a mediator between the pro-Palestinian student protesters and the university administration that reached a peak last spring, was reportedly “abducted and detained” in the presence of his pregnant wife by Immigration and Customs Enforcement late on Saturday from his residence in New York.

On Monday, it was reported that a judge had blocked the deportation order, and scheduled a hearing for Wednesday. Nevertheless, Khalil remains in custody at a facility in Louisiana, over a thousand miles from New York. Last August, the American Civil Liberties Union issued a report that outlined significant alleged human rights abuses in the facility, titled, “Inside the Black Hole: Systemic Human Rights Abuses Against Immigrants Detained & Disappeared in Louisiana”. 

Khalil’s 8-month pregnant wife also pled for her husband’s release in time for the birth of their baby. “I urge you to see Mahmoud through my eyes as a loving husband and the future father to our baby. I need your help to bring Mahmoud home, so he is here beside me, holding my hand in the delivery room as we welcome our first child into this world,” she told US media in a statement issued via her husband’s attorney, Amy E. Greer.

“Mahmoud is my rock, my home, and my happy place,” she added.

‘People are afraid’ 

The arrest follows threats by US President Donald Trump to arrest, deport or deny visas to students who engage in Palestinian advocacy. It was also a policy he campaigned on, though at the time many seemed to see his threats of infringing on free speech as preposterous.

However, now the detention of a Khalil, a green card holder who was taken from his home without a clear legal cause, set off a wave of fear among students and faculty staff, who wonder if their basic constitutional rights will be protected. Following the arrest, Trump posted on social media that Khalil’s arrest would be “the first of many“.

For its part, the Arab American Institute released a statement on Monday stressing that Khalil’s arrest is a “clear infringement” of the US Constitution’s First Amendment. 

“The arrest by ICE this weekend of Mahmoud Khalil represents a clear violation of First Amendment rights. As a student and activist at Columbia University, Mahmoud was expressing his political beliefs and participating in free speech in support of Palestinian human rights,” the statement said. “His detention, along with the potential for deportation, is a troubling example of alarming overreach by government power, targeting individuals for exercising their constitutional rights to protest and dissent. This action not only infringes upon Mr. Khalil’s rights, but also sets a dangerous precedent for the suppression of political speech on college campuses, and beyond.” 

“People are afraid to go to campus right now,” Caitlin Liss, a PhD candidate in the history Department at Columbia and a spokesperson for the Columbia Workers Union, told The New Arab, referring to not only the recent arrest, but also the presence of ICE officials on campus and the reversal of the university’s status as a “sanctuary campus”.

“If students don’t feel like they can be on or around campus, that’s an issue for our union. We’d like to see Columbia reinstate its sanctuary campus,” she stressed.

Trump targeting 

Liss worries that if Columbia‘s administration acquiesces to the demands of the Trump government, it won’t satisfy them, particularly if their goal, as many of critics of the president believe, is to hurt higher education. Moreover, Trump has said that he wants to dismantle the Department of Education, which appears to be underway. 

“I don’t think it’s an accident that the [Trump] administration is targeting universities,” David Frank, a professor of rhetoric and political communication at the University of Oregon, told TNA.

“Trump is weaponising antisemitism to attack universities and to stifle freedom of dissent and inquiry,” he said. “The targeting of Mahmoud Khalil is an indication of the effort to silence pro-Palestinian and pro-human rights advocates.”

Frank says that while he believes antisemitism is a serious problem, it also believes it shouldn’t be conflated with any criticism of Israel. He pointed to the response by more than two dozen Jewish professors at Columbia and Barnard to an antisemitism task force that they describe as having “neglectful omissions” and “factual misrepresentations”.

With Columbia opening itself up to surveillance and law enforcement on campus to target pro-Palestinian students, some see this as a precedent for further crackdowns that go beyond Palestinian advocacy.

On Monday, Zeteo reported that Khalil had requested from Columbia protection a day before his detention. TNA could not confirm if this request took place. 

“Since yesterday, I have been subjected to a vicious, coordinated, and dehumanising doxxing campaign led by Columbia affiliates Shai Davidai and David Lederer who, among others, have labelled me a security threat and called for my deportation,” he reportedly wrote to Columbia’s interim president Katrina Armstrong on 7 March. Davidai has denied the accusation on social media.

“Their attacks have incited a wave of hate, including calls for my deportation and death threats. I have outlined the wider context below, yet Columbia has not provided any meaningful support or resources in response to this escalating threat,” he added.

On Monday, a Columbia student, who spoke anonymously due to fears, told TNA, “Students are outraged and terrified. Columbia has provided no guidance to international students. As students, we feel disposable to Columbia and the Columbia trustees.”

Multiples demonstrations are planned for Tuesday at universities across the US in support of Khalil.