A Columbia University student activist who led campus pro-Palestinian rallies and is now fighting the Trump administration's deportation efforts is urging students to continue demonstrations and protests.
Mahmoud Khalil, who is in custody in Louisiana as his case moves through courts, called his March 8 arrest by immigration authorities an "abduction" in an op-ed published Friday in the Columbia Spectator.
Titled “A Letter to Columbia,” the piece was dictated and verified by his attorney, the student newspaper said.
"Since my abduction on March 8, the intimidation and kidnapping of international students who stand for Palestine has only accelerated," Khalil said in the op-ed.
He said Columbia's leadership has suppressed student dissent over Israel’s war in Gaza, which it launched after the Oct. 7, 2023, terror attack by Hamas.
Khalil is a lawful U.S. permanent resident with a green card, his attorney has said. His legal team has said his detention is a violation of his due process and First Amendment rights.
Federal officials have said that he led activities “aligned to Hamas,” which the United States has designated a terrorist organization.
He has not been charged with committing any crime, and an attorney of his has said there is no evidence he has provided any kind of support to a terrorist organization.
The Trump administration is seeking to deport him under a provision in federal immigration law that allows the secretary of state to deport noncitizens deemed a threat to U.S. foreign policy.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said last month that the State Department has revoked 300 or more student visas. “Every time I find one of these lunatics, I take away their visas,” Rubio said at a news conference in Guyana.
In the op-ed, Khalil referred to other students who have been arrested and are facing deportation — including Tufts University doctoral student Rümeysa Öztürk.
The Department of Homeland Security has said that Öztürk “engaged in activities in support of Hamas.”
Öztürk was one of several people who co-wrote an opinion piece in the Tufts University student newspaper that called on the university to label Israel’s war in Gaza a “genocide.”
Tufts has defended Öztürk and said the opinion piece was consistent with speech permitted under its policies of free expression.
“The University has no further information suggesting that she has acted in a manner that would constitute a violation of the University’s understanding of the Immigration and Naturalization Act,” Tufts said Wednesday.
Khalil in his Columbia Spectator op-ed said that Öztürk and others have been "snatched by the state."
“The situation is oddly reminiscent of when I fled the brutality of Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria and sought refuge in Lebanon,” Khalil said.
Rubio has defended the revocation of visas by saying that, “No one has a right to a student visa. No one has a right to a green card.”
A judge has also temporarily blocked the planned deportation of Öztürk.
The war in Gaza sparked student protests at universities across the country, with demonstrators calling attention to the civilian death toll as well as issues of Palestinian rights. Some have labeled the protests and behavior antisemitic.
Columbia President Nemat “Minouche” Shafik resigned in August, following months of criticism over protests on the Manhattan campus.
The Trump administration last month canceled $400 million in federal funding to Columbia, accusing the university of "inaction in the face of persistent harassment of Jewish students.” Columbia then agreed to a list of demands in order to start negotiations to try and restore the funding.
Khalil in Friday's op-ed urged students to continue their efforts. "It is incumbent upon each of you to reclaim the University and join the student movement to carry forward the work of the past year," he wrote.
