# Who is Mahmoud Khalil, the Palestinian activist facing US deportation?

## By Phil McCausland
**BBC News**
**Reporting from New York**

Mahmoud Khalil, a prominent figure during the Gaza war protests at Columbia University in the spring of 2024, has drawn global attention after the Trump administration arrested and moved to deport him.

The case has raised questions about free speech on college campuses and the legal process that would allow for the deportation of a US permanent resident.

Mr Khalil will remain in detention in Louisiana following a court hearing on Wednesday, where lawyers argued over whether he should be moved back to New York.

Born in Syria, the Columbia graduate's arrest by immigration agents was linked to President Donald Trump's promise to crack down on student demonstrators he accuses of "un-American activity".

Trump has repeatedly alleged that pro-Palestinian activists, including Mr Khalil, support Hamas, a group designated a terrorist organisation by the US. The president argues these protesters should be deported and called Mr Khalil's arrest "the first of many to come".

The 30-year-old's lawyers say he was exercising free speech rights to demonstrate in support of Palestinians in Gaza and against US support for Israel. They accused the government of "open repression of student activism and political speech".

## Khalil's work for UK in Middle East

Born in Syria to Palestinian refugees, Mr Khalil earned a degree in computer science from the Lebanese American University before working with the Syrian-American non-profit Jusoor.

More recently, he managed the Syria Chevening Programme for the British Embassy in Beirut, offering scholarships for study in the UK, according to his biography on the Society for International Development website.

The UK Foreign Office said Mr Khalil stopped work there more than two years ago.

Mr Khalil moved to the US in 2022, where he earned a master's degree at Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs. He has since married an American woman, who is eight months pregnant, and initially faced arrest threats herself, according to his lawyer.

## His role in the student protests


*Getty Images*

Mr Khalil's role in Columbia's 2024 protests placed him in the public eye. On the front lines of negotiations, he played a role in mediating between university officials and the activists and students who attended the protests.

Activists supporting Israel have accused Mr Khalil of being a leader of Columbia University Apartheid Divest (Cuad), a student group that demanded, among other things, the university to divest from its financial ties to Israel and a ceasefire in Gaza.

Mr Khalil has denied that he led the group, telling the Associated Press (AP) that he only served as a spokesperson for protesters and as a mediator with the university.

After Mr Khalil's arrest the Department of Homeland Security accused him of "leading activities aligned to Hamas" but did not provide further details.

On Tuesday, the White House alleged that he had organised protests where pro-Hamas propaganda was distributed. His lawyers responded that there was no evidence that he had provided support of any kind to US-designated terror groups.

"They're trying to make an example of him to chill others from making similar speech," Samah Sisay told the AP.

Some Jewish students at Columbia have said the protests veered into antisemitism and made them feel unsafe on campus.

The Columbia Jewish Alumni Association said Mr Khalil had "spent over a year abusing the privileges this country and Columbia gave him".

The Trump administration recently cut $400m in funding to the university over what it said was "continued inaction in the face of persistent harassment of Jewish students".

Students affiliated with Cuad and the protests have rejected these characterisations, and many Jewish students and groups participated in the campus rallies.

Columbia was just one college campus that played host to mass student protests over the war in Gaza. And activists say they fear the Trump administration will continue to target protesters who are not US citizens.

Legal experts say green card holders can be deported on national security grounds, but add that the case against Mr Khalil is unprecedented.

"Targeting individual protesters just for protesting... is highly unusual and something that we haven't seen before, even under the first Trump administration," said Jacob Hamburger, a visiting assistant professor at Cornell Law School.

## Khalil had been briefly suspended from Columbia


*Getty Images*

At the time, he told the BBC that while he was acting as a key protest negotiator with Columbia officials, he had not participated directly in the student encampment because he was worried it could affect his student visa.

It is unclear when he obtained his green card, which provides permanent residency.

" that after reviewing the evidence, they don't have any evidence to suspend (me)," he said in an interview in early May. "It shows how random the suspension was … they did that randomly, and without due process."

At the time he said he would continue protesting, but more recently, Mr Khalil's wife said her husband had grown worried about deportation, after facing online attacks that "were simply not based in reality". She said he sent Columbia University an email asking for urgent legal help on 7 March, the day before immigration agents arrested him.

## Protests surge in wake of arrest


*Getty Images*

The unpredictable storms have hit Missouri, Texas and Oklahoma, whipping up fires and overturning trucks.

The American Civil Liberties Union called the arrest "unprecedented" and "obviously intended to intimidate and chill speech on one side of a public debate".

"The federal government is claiming the authority to deport people with deep ties to the US and revoke their green cards for advocating positions that the government opposes," it said.

The White House has continued to defend its move.

"This administration is not going to tolerate individuals having the privilege of studying in our country and then siding with pro-terrorist organisations that have killed Americans," said Karoline Leavitt, Trump's press secretary.

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