NEW YORK — The White House has expressed dissatisfaction with Columbia University’s reluctance to assist federal agents in identifying individuals involved in pro-Palestinian protests as the government pursues deportation efforts against participants. The administration has continued to retaliate against the school by withdrawing federal research funding.
Immigration officers detained Mahmoud Khalil, a legal U.S. resident and Palestinian activist, on Saturday. Khalil, who was significantly involved in protests at Columbia University last year, is now facing potential deportation.
President Donald Trump has pledged to carry out more arrests. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, addressing reporters in Washington, explained that federal authorities have been utilizing intelligence to identify participants in campus demonstrations that they view as antisemitic and supportive of Hamas. She noted that Columbia had been provided with names but has refused to assist the Department of Homeland Security in identifying these individuals.
“As the president emphatically stated, such non-cooperation will not be tolerated,” Leavitt asserted.
The university has yet to comment officially on the matter.
Recently, the Trump administration rescinded $400 million in grants and contracts from Columbia, accusing the university of inadequate action against antisemitism. Included in these cuts, the National Institutes of Health announced late Monday that over $250 million, covering more than 400 grants, would be rescinded. X. Edward Guo, who leads Columbia’s Bone Bioengineering Laboratory, shared on X a notification email regarding the cancellation of one of his NIH awards. “We understand this may be shocking news,” the email stated.
In the spring, Columbia witnessed substantial student-led demonstrations urging a halt to Israeli military measures in Gaza and advocating for Palestinian human rights and territorial recognition. Ultimately, the university involved law enforcement to dismantle a protest encampment and end a student occupation of an administration building.
Khalil, 30, served as a spokesperson for those protesting. He faces no criminal charges, yet Leavitt mentioned the administration’s intent to deport him under an Immigration and Nationality Act clause, which permits the secretary of state to deport non-citizens if their presence poses potential serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the U.S.
As of Tuesday, Khalil remains detained in an immigration facility in Louisiana. Civil rights organizations and Khalil’s legal team argue that the government’s use of its immigration control powers infringes upon his constitutional rights to free speech. A federal judge has scheduled a hearing for Wednesday and has temporarily halted any deportation action.
President Trump, representing the Republican party, has hinted that some protestors are Hamas sympathizers. On October 7, 2023, Hamas conducted an attack on Israel, resulting in 1,200 fatalities and 251 abductions. Israel responded with military actions that have so far claimed over 48,000 Palestinian lives in Gaza, a territory controlled by Hamas, with Israel estimating that more than 17,000 were militants.
Trump praised Khalil’s arrest, describing it as the precedent for many more to follow, and declared an intent on social media to deport students he described as engaging in “pro-terrorist, anti-Semitic, anti-American activity.” The attempt to detain another international Columbia student by immigration agents was thwarted when they were denied entry to an apartment where the student was at the time, according to a students’ union.
While Khalil has completed requirements for a master’s degree at Columbia, both he and protest leaders maintain their stance as anti-war, not antisemitic. They highlight participation from some Jewish students and organizations in the demonstrations. Columbia’s disciplinary body is investigating Khalil for potentially violating a harassment policy by labeling a university official as “genocidal.”
Leavitt did not detail any specific actions taken by Khalil, though she claimed he organized protests disrupting classes, hassled Jewish students, and distributed pro-Hamas materials. Khalil, a Syrian native and grandson of Palestinians uprooted from their homeland, has relatives displaced by Syria’s ongoing civil war currently residing abroad; his citizenship status was not disclosed. Khalil is married to a U.S. citizen and the couple is expecting their first child.
Khalil’s wife, in a statement from his legal team, urges the public to view Khalil as a devoted husband anticipating fatherhood. “I implore you to help reunite Mahmoud with our family, so he may accompany me in the delivery room as we welcome our baby into this world,” she wrote.
