March 10, 2025 (EIRNS)—Mahmoud Khalid was arrested for deportation by agents of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on the evening of March 8, despite his status as a legal permanent resident (holding a “Green Card"), and is currently believed to be held at an immigration detention center in Elizabeth, New Jersey. In April 2024 Khalid was a graduate student at Columbia University and his most notable role in the ceasefire protests on campus was his service as the lead negotiator between the student protesters and the university administration. Khalid is married to a U.S. citizen (she is 8 months pregnant), who was also threatened with arrest. ICE told Khalid’s lawyer Amy Greer that he was being held at the Elizabeth facility, but when his wife went to visit him on March 9, she was told that Khalid was not there.
Columbia University has the reputation of using its students as bargaining chips to restore federal grants and contracts, such as those that were cut last week. While the arrest was made by ICE agents, the allegations came from Columbia’s secretive, “McCarthyist” Office of Institutional Equity (OIE), which has been targeting him and other pro-Palestinian activists. OIE has been known to use blatantly false testimony or even doxing websites such as Canary Mission which seek to blacklist and intimidate their opponents. Canary Mission is often used by Israeli intelligence to silence critics of Israel.
Many organizations and local elected officials, such as New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani, have voiced their support for Khalid and a large demonstration is planned for March 10 at Federal Plaza in New York. Over 1 million people have responded to an online petition and letter-writing campaign calling for his release.
His lawyer Greer said: “We will vigorously be pursuing Mahmoud’s rights in court, and will continue our efforts to right this terrible and inexcusable—and calculated—wrong committed against him.” She said the arrest “follows the U.S. government’s open repression of student activism and political speech, specifically targeting students at Columbia University for criticism of Israel’s assault on Gaza. The U.S. government has made clear that they will use immigration enforcement as a tool to suppress that speech.”
