Will deport them, never to return again: Trump vows crackdown on pro-Gaza protesters after Mahmoud Khalil arrest

US President Donald Trump has vowed to intensify his administration’s crackdown on pro-Gaza protesters, warning that the recent arrest of Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil is “the first of many to come.” 

In a social media post, Trump said that his administration will continue to “find, apprehend, and deport these terrorist sympathisers – never to return again”. 

“We know there are more students at Columbia and other Universities across the Country who have engaged in pro-terrorist, anti-Semitic, anti-American activity,” Trump wrote. “We will find, apprehend, and deport these terrorist sympathizers from our country — never to return again.”

The crack down

Mahmoud Khalil, who graduated from Columbia in December and lived with his 8-month pregnant wife in the university's student housing, was detained on March 8 by federal immigration agents in New York and flown to an immigration jail in Louisiana. Khalil is a lawful US citizen and has helped lead protests at Columbia University.

His deportation, however, has been put on hold by a federal judge in New York City, who has argued that Khalil will not be deported while the court considered a legal challenge brought by his lawyers. A hearing is scheduled for March 12.

In their legal complaint, Khalil's attorneys accused the government of retaliating against him for his “constitutionally protected advocacy on behalf of Palestinian human rights.”

Another international student at Columbia was visited by federal immigration authorities on March 7. A union representing the student said they attempted to take her into custody but were not allowed to enter the apartment. 

Khalil is the first person known to be detained for deportation under Trump's promised crackdown on student protests.

Outrage against Khalil's detention

Apart from a group of Columbia faculty members expressing concern over Khalil's detention, civil rights groups and free speech advocates have also criticised the Trump administration. 

Faculty members said that Khalil's detention was intended to suppress free speech by students and staff who are not US citizens. Civil rights groups accused the administration of using its immigration enforcement powers to squelch criticism of Israel.

“The attack on Mahmoud Khalil is intended to make them quake in their boots, and to make all of us quake in our boots," said Michael Thaddeus, a Columbia math professor. "Our message to Washington is that we are not silenced, we are not afraid, and we stand together, determined to defeat this ongoing assault on our fundamental rights.”

Charges against Khalil

Khalil, 30, had not been charged with any crime related to his activism, but Trump has argued that protesters forfeited their rights to remain in the country by protests he claimed support Hamas, the Palestinian group that attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. The US has designated Hamas as a terrorist organisation.

While President Trump argues that student protesters like Khalil are “terrorist sympathisers" and are indulging in “anti-Semitic, anti-American activity”, student leaders of Columbia University Apartheid Divest have rejected these claims, saying they are part of a broader anti-war movement that also includes Jewish students and groups. 

However, the protest coalition, at times, has also voiced support for leaders of Hamas and Hezbollah, another Islamist organisation designated by the US as a terrorist group.

The US Education Department on Monday warned some 60 colleges, including Harvard and Cornell, that they could lose federal money if they fail to uphold civil rights laws against antisemitism and ensure “uninterrupted access” to campus facilities and education opportunities. The Trump administration is already pulling $400 million from Columbia.

Typically, the government has to meet a higher bar to expel a person who has permanent residency in the US, like showing someone has been convicted of a serious crime.

Born in Syria to Palestinian parents, Khalil entered the US to attend Columbia in 2022. 

(With inputs from AP)