Agents from US President Donald Trump's administration arrested a Palestinian graduate student who played a prominent role in last year's pro-Palestinian protests at New York's Columbia University, four fellow students said on Sunday.
The student, Mahmoud Khalil at the university's School of International and Public Affairs, was arrested by US Department of Homeland Security agents at his university residence on Saturday, said undergraduate student Maryam Alwan and three other students who asked not to be identified, citing fears of reprisals.
Khalil has been one of the negotiators with school administrators on behalf of the pro-Palestinian student protesters, who set up a tent encampment on a Columbia lawn last year, Reuters reported.
Khalil's detention appears to be one of the first efforts by Trump, a Republican who returned to the White House in January, to fulfill his promise to seek the deportation of some foreign students involved in the pro-Palestinian protest movement. The October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel and subsequent Israeli assault on Gaza led to months of pro-Palestinian protests that roiled US college campuses.
A spokesperson for Columbia said the school was barred by law from sharing information about individual students.
Spokespeople for the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of State, which oversees the country's visa system, did not respond to questions.
In an interview with Reuters a few hours before his arrest on Saturday, Khalil said he was concerned that he was being targeted by the government and some conservative pro-Israel groups for speaking to the media.
The Trump administration on Friday said it had canceled government contracts and grants awarded to Columbia University worth about $400 million. The government said the cuts and the student deportation efforts are because of antisemitic harassment at and near Columbia's Manhattan campus.
Agents from US President Donald Trump's administration arrested a Palestinian graduate student who played a prominent role in last year's pro-Palestinian protests at New York's Columbia University, four fellow students said on Sunday.
The student, Mahmoud Khalil at the university's School of International and Public Affairs, was arrested by US Department of Homeland Security agents at his university residence on Saturday, said undergraduate student Maryam Alwan and three other students who asked not to be identified, citing fears of reprisals.
Khalil has been one of the negotiators with school administrators on behalf of the pro-Palestinian student protesters, who set up a tent encampment on a Columbia lawn last year, Reuters reported.
Khalil's detention appears to be one of the first efforts by Trump, a Republican who returned to the White House in January, to fulfill his promise to seek the deportation of some foreign students involved in the pro-Palestinian protest movement. The October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel and subsequent Israeli assault on Gaza led to months of pro-Palestinian protests that roiled US college campuses.
A spokesperson for Columbia said the school was barred by law from sharing information about individual students.
Spokespeople for the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of State, which oversees the country's visa system, did not respond to questions.
In an interview with Reuters a few hours before his arrest on Saturday, Khalil said he was concerned that he was being targeted by the government and some conservative pro-Israel groups for speaking to the media.
The Trump administration on Friday said it had canceled government contracts and grants awarded to Columbia University worth about $400 million. The government said the cuts and the student deportation efforts are because of antisemitic harassment at and near Columbia's Manhattan campus.
