Organizers are planning a rally Monday against President Donald Trump and his administration's arrest over the weekend of a pro-Palestine protester at Columbia University — a permanent resident who has been targeted for deportation.
Monday afternoon, protesters are set to gather at Federal Plaza in New York City in support of Mahmoud Khalil, the student who has been detained and who had served as a negotiator between the university and others protesting Israel's war in Gaza. The protest is being organized by groups including Shut it Down for Palestine,The People’s Forum and Writers Against the War in Gaza.
Khalil’s detention, and the administration’s promise to deport him for protesting, has sparked a sharp response among some Democrats, like Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., who called Trump a dictator for his crackdown on speech and protest.
“A President who detains a protestor and revokes their legal status can only be called one thing: A dictator,” Pressley said in a post on Bluesky. “Silencing dissent is unlawful, unjust, and authoritarian through and through.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, responding to a news report about the arrest, promised to revoke “the visas and/or green cards of Hamas supporters in America so they can be deported.”
Khalil was initially detained in a New Jersey facility but has since been moved to Louisiana, according to ICE.
In a statement Sunday, ICE claimed to have detained Khalil “in support of President Trump’s executive orders prohibiting antisemitism, and in coordination with the Department of State, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Arrested Mahmoud Khalil, a former Columbia University graduate student. Khalil led activities aligned to Hamas, a designated terrorist organization.”
ICE did not explain how Khalil’s activities were “aligned to Hamas.” Khalil’s arrest represents an extraordinary development as he has not been charged with a crime.
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