The American Civil Liberties Union released a 2-minute video documenting the arrest last weekend of Mahmoud Khalil, an activist who helped lead many protests on Columbia University's campus last year.
"Plainclothes agents detain and take Mahmoud Khalil from his home. His wife, Noor Abdalla, who is 8 months pregnant, recorded the video," the ACLU wrote in a caption posted to Instagram on Friday.
The video starts with men, apparently federal immigration officials, surrounding Khalil in the lobby of his building.
"You're going to be under arrest," one man tells Khalil. "Turn around. Turn around. Turn around. Stop resisting."
The men place Khalil in handcuffs and escort him out of the building and into a car parked out on the street. Abdalla, capturing the exchange on phone, follows the men outside while trying to speak to a lawyer.
She repeatedly asks the men for their names. They refuse to answer Abdalla's questions seeking identification. The men tell her only that Khalil will be taken to immigration custody 26 Federal Plaza.
"Agents refused to show a warrant to his wife and hung up on the family’s attorney who was desperately seeking answers," the ACLU alleges.
What happened?
Khalil was detained Saturday night as he and his wife were returning to their Columbia University-owned apartment in upper Manhattan by officials from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
The agents told the couple that Khalil was being detained because his student visa had been revoked.
When his wife provided documents proving he was a green card holder, the agents said that was also being revoked and took him away in handcuffs, according to a lawsuit Khalil’s attorneys filed challenging his detention.
Why is he facing deportation?
The Department of Homeland Security, confirming his arrest Saturday, accused Khalil of leading “activities aligned to Hamas, a designated terrorist organization.”
The White House, elaborating more on its position Tuesday, claimed Khalil organized protests where pro-Hamas propaganda was distributed.
“This administration is not going to tolerate individuals having the privilege of studying in our country and then siding with pro-terrorist organizations that have killed Americans,” said Karoline Leavitt, Trump’s press secretary.
A lawyer for Khalil, Samah Sisay, said there is no evidence that his client provided support of any kind to a terrorist organization.
“They’re trying to make an example of him to chill others from making similar speech,” Sisay told The Associated Press. “Not agreeing with your government’s foreign policy decision to support Israel is not a reason for you to be in deportation proceedings.”
Who is Mahmoud Khalil?
Khalil was one of the most visible activists in the protests last spring at Columbia, which also happened on other college campuses around the world.
He served as a student negotiator — a role that had him speaking frequently with university officials and the press.
More recently, he was among the pro-Palestinian activists investigated by a new disciplinary body at Columbia University focused on harassment and discrimination complaints.
Khalil completed his master’s degree in public administration at Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs in December.
What’s his legal status?
Khalil was born and raised in Syria after his Palestinian grandparents were removed from their homeland, according to his lawsuit.
He came to the U.S. on a student visa in 2022 to pursue his graduate studies at Columbia.
Khalil married his wife, who is a U.S. citizen, in 2023. He became a legal permanent resident — also known as a green card holder — last year.
Can the government deport green card holders?
Short answer: yes. Green card holders can be deported, but the government has the burden to prove the person is deportable.
Grounds for deportation can range from being convicted of a range of crimes, from murder, assault and burglary to tax evasion, domestic violence and illegal firearms possession, according to Stephen Yale-Loehr, an immigration law expert and retired Cornell Law School professor.
But a legal permanent resident can also be expelled for providing material support to a terrorist group, in which case the government doesn’t need a criminal conviction to bring deportation charges, he said.
“Material support for immigration purposes is much broader than the criminal definition of the term,” Yale-Loehr explained. “For example, people have been deported for simply providing a cup of water or bowl of rice to guerrilla groups, even under duress.”
Where is Khalil?
Khalil is being held at a federal immigration detention facility in a central Louisiana town roughly 170 miles (275 kilometers) northwest of New Orleans.
The Central Louisiana ICE Processing Center in Jena, which is a low-slung complex ringed by barbed wire fences, can hold about 1,160 detainees.
Louisiana became a hub for immigrant detention during the first Trump administration and has nine centers, most of them run by private contractors.
Critics say the isolated complexes cut prisoners off from easy access to attorneys and family.
“The intent is to kind of break the morale, the spirits, of those that are held at these facilities,” Yasmine Taeb, the legislative and political director for the Muslim activist group MPower Change, told reporters Tuesday.
