WATCH | US immigration agents arrest Palestinian student protester at Columbia University

US immigration agents arrested a Palestinian graduate student who has played a prominent role in pro-Palestinian protests at New York's Columbia University, the student workers' labour union said on Sunday.

Mahmoud Khalil of the university's School of International and Public Affairs was arrested by US department of homeland security agents at his university residence on Saturday, the Student Workers of Columbia union said. His wife is an American citizen who is eight months pregnant, according to news reports, and he holds a US permanent residency green card, the union said.

Khalil's detention appears to be one of the first efforts by US President Donald Trump to fulfil his promise to seek the deportation of some foreign students involved in the pro-Palestinian protest movement, which he has called anti-Semitic. The Hamas attack on Israel in October 2023 and subsequent US-supported Israeli assault on Gaza have led to months of pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel protests that have roiled US college campuses.

Khalil called it an anti-war movement that includes Jewish students and groups, and he was one of the lead negotiators with school administrators on behalf of pro-Palestinian student protesters, some of whom set up tent encampments on Columbia lawns last year and seized control of an academic building for several hours before Columbia called in police to arrest them.

Khalil was not in the group who occupied the building, but was a mediator between Columbia vice provosts and the protesters.

In an interview with Reuters a few hours before his arrest on Saturday about Trump's criticism of student protesters, Khalil said he was concerned he was being targeted for speaking to the media.

Khalil grew up in a Palestinian refugee camp in his native Syria and has worked for the British embassy in Beirut, according to an online biography. He was being held on Sunday at a US immigration and customs enforcement (ICE) detention centre in Elizabeth, New Jersey, according to the ICE online detainee locator. His lawyer, Amy Greer, did not respond to requests for comment. Khalil's wife declined to comment through one of Khalil's fellow students.

A spokesperson for Columbia said the school was barred by law from sharing information about individual students, but said the school was “committed to the legal rights of our students.”

Spokespeople for Trump and the department of homeland security did not respond to questions.

Secretary of state Marco Rubio shared a news report of Khalil's arrest on social media, adding: “We will be revoking the visas and/or green cards of Hamas supporters in America so they can be deported.”

He did not elaborate and spokespeople for Rubio did not respond to questions.

Trump has singled out Columbia for its handling of student protesters and has quickly increased pressure on the school. Khalil's arrest came a day after the Trump administration said it had cancelled government contracts and grants awarded to Columbia University worth about $400m (R7.3bn). The government said the cuts and student deportation efforts, which are likely to face legal challenges, are because of anti-Semitic harassment at and near Columbia's Manhattan campus.

“What more can Columbia do to appease Congress or the government?” Khalil told Reuters hours before his arrest, noting Columbia had twice called in police to arrest protesters and had disciplined many pro-Palestinian students and staff, suspending some.

“They basically silenced anyone supporting Palestine on campus and this was not enough. Clearly Trump is using the protesters as a scapegoat for his wider agenda fighting and attacking higher education and the Ivy League education system.”

Columbia's interim president Katrina Armstrong said the school was committed to combating anti-Semitism and was “working with the federal government to address their legitimate concerns”.

Khalil and his fellow protesters have demanded for several years that Columbia end investments of its $14.8bn (R271bn) endowment in weapons manufacturers and companies that support Israel's military. Columbia said it was willing to expedite consideration of the students' demands through its advisory committee on socially responsible investing.

Maryam Alwan, a Palestinian American senior at Columbia who has protested alongside Khalil, said Trump was dehumanising Palestinians.

“I am horrified for my dear friend Mahmoud, who is a legal resident, and I am horrified this is only the beginning,” she said.

The New York Civil Liberties Union said the detention of Khalil was unlawful, retaliatory and an attack on free speech rights.

Donna Lieberman, the group's executive director, said the detention “is a frightening escalation of Trump’s crackdown on pro-Palestine speech, and an aggressive abuse of immigration law”.

Columbia issued a revised protocol last week for how students and school staff should deal with federal immigration agents seeking to enter private school property.

The school said ICE agents without a judicial arrest warrant may be allowed to enter its private property in “exigent circumstances”, which it did not specify.

“By allowing ICE on campus, Columbia is surrendering to the Trump administration's assault on universities across the country and sacrificing international students to protect its finances,” the Student Workers of Columbia said.

Khalil lives in a university apartment building outside Columbia's main gated campus.

Reuters