ICE arrests pro-Hamas activist who was deeply involved with 2024 Columbia protests
‘Khalil led activities aligned to Hamas, a designated terrorist organization,’ the Department of Homeland Security stated.
Khalil was deeply involved in the Columbia student protests in 2024, and at one point threatened that students would use ‘any available means necessary to push Columbia to divest from Israel.’
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) recently arrested and is trying to deport an activist student from Columbia University in New York whom it accused of leading “activities aligned to Hamas.”
“On March 9, 2025, in support of President Trump’s executive orders prohibiting anti-Semitism, 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,” the Department of Homeland Security stated in a Sunday post on X.
“ICE and the Department of State are committed to enforcing President Trump’s executive orders and to protecting U.S. national security,” it concluded.
An ICE agent told Khalil’s attorney that the agency is planning to revoke his green card, the first such known attempt following President Donald Trump’s executive order targeting supporters of terrorism, as the Associated Press reported.
Khalil, a Palestinian student, was deeply involved with the 2024 anti-Israel campus protests at Columbia University, which started at the Ivy League campus and quickly inspired similar disruptions and riots in colleges and universities across the U.S.
These protests were frequently marked by statements of support for the terrorist group, Hamas, rejoicing at the Oct. 7 massacre of Jewish civilians, attacks on Jewish students, vandalism of campus property, chanting of anti-Israel slogans, and calls for universities to cut off financial ties with the Jewish state.
Khalil acted as a negotiator between the anti-Israel protesters at Columbia University and the school’s leadership. He is also a member of the now-banned group Columbia University Apartheid Divest, which is no longer officially recognized by the school due to its disruptive activities.
[RELATED: Columbia condemns student group’s call for more disruptions of ‘Zionist’ classes]
He also issued a seeming threat against university leaders in August, stating that students “will continue their activism . . . in conventional and unconventional ways,” and adding that they will use “any available means necessary to push Columbia to divest from Israel.”
On Friday, the Trump administration announced “the immediate cancellation of approximately $400 million in federal grants and contracts to Columbia University due to the school’s continued inaction in the face of persistent harassment of Jewish students.”
When asked for comment, a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson shared with Campus Reform the statement mentioned above that was shared on X.
Campus Reform has reached out to Columbia University for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.
