Students state they will not move until Columbia U. reveals who provided the name of CUAD leader Mahmoud Khalil to ICE, demand Khalil’s release.
Several students at Columbia University chained themselves to a gate to protest the arrest and possible deportation of Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD) leader Mahmoud Khalil, Fox News Digital reported.
The incident occurred during a protest outside the St. Paul’s Chapel at the university yesterday (Wednesday). The protesters demanded that the university reveal the name of “who gave Mahmoud Khalil’s name to ICE.”
The Columbia Palestine Solidarity Committee wrote on X: “We will not leave until our demand is met.”
It added, “FREE MAHMOUD KHALIL. NAME THE TRUSTEE. Jewish students will not leave. They will remain chained to the campus gates until @Columbia University is held accountable. WHO REPORTED MAHMOUD TO ICE?”
University officials stated that the students were removed from the fence after two hours. Khalil, who was behind anti-Israel demonstrations at Columbia University, was detained by immigration authorities on March 8 as part of the Trump administration’s effort to combat what it describes as antisemitic and “anti-American” campus protests.
Khalil entered the United States on a student visa in 2022 and became a legal permanent resident last year.
The government accuses Khalil of failing to disclose on his residency application what it described as his “membership” in the United Nations’ Palestinian refugee agency, UNRWA. However, UNRWA and his lawyers clarified that he merely completed an unpaid internship at the agency’s New York office as part of his Columbia master’s program, which was listed in his application.
Additionally, authorities allege that Khalil did not disclose what they termed his “continued employment” at the British embassy in Beirut “beyond 2022.”
Khalil is also accused of giving out flyers containing Hamas propaganda.
