The Workers Union of Workers said on Sunday that the United States Immigration and Customs agents (ICE) arrested a Palestinian graduate student who played a prominent role in the pro -Palestinian protests at Columbia University in New York.

Student workers in the Colombia Federation said in a statement that the student, Mahmoud Khalil at the College of International and General Affairs of the University, was arrested at his university residence on Saturday.

Al -Ittihad said that the wife of Khalil is an American citizen and has a permanent green card. The detention remained on Sunday. Khalil’s wife refused to comment through a colleague of Khalil.

Khalil’s lawyer, Amy Jarir, told the Associated Press news that she had spoken by phone with an ice agent during the detention, who said they were acting on the orders of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to cancel the visa of Talib Khalil. The lawyer informed that Khalil was in the country as a permanent resident with a green card, and the agent said that they also cancel it, according to the lawyer.

Jarir said that the authorities refused to inform Khalil’s wife, who was eight -year -old, whether he was accused of a crime. Khalil has since been transferred to the Immigration Detention facility in Elizabeth, New Jersey.

“We couldn’t get more details about the reason for his detainment,” Jarir told AP. This is a clear escalation. The administration continues its threats. “

It seems that the arrest was among the first acts known under President Donald Trump’s pledge to deport international students who joined the protests against the Israeli war in Gaza, which swept the campus of universities last year. His administration claimed that the participants had lost their rights to remain in the country by supporting Hamas, which was appointed as a “terrorist” organization by the United States.

The move was described as an attack on the freedoms of the first amendment.

Khalil, an Algerian citizen of Palestinian origin, was one of the main school administrators negotiators for the pro -Palestinian demonstrators, some of whom established a tent calibration in the Colombia Park last year and took control of an academic building for several hours in April before the police entered the campus for their turnout. Khalil was not in the group that occupied the building, but was a mediator between Colombia Provember and the demonstrators.

The protesting students called for the withdrawal of Colombia’s investments from companies with relations with Israel, the ceasefire and the end of the war that killed nearly 50,000 Palestinians and the pocket turned into ruins after a non -stop bombing. The United States presented the bulk of the ammunition for the war.

Colombia said last year that it would consider accelerating some students ’demands through the Investment Committee.

Rights groups accused Israel of committing the genocide in Gaza – home to 2.3 million people. Despite the ceasefire since January 19, Israel prevented any assistance to Gaza since March 1, which has led to a condemnation of the rights groups and relief agencies.

On October 7, 2023, Hamas’s attack on Israel and the subsequent Israeli military attack on Gaza led months of protests in support of the Palestinians that shocked the campus of the American universities.

At least 1,100 people were killed in the Hamas attack and about 240 people were transported. Most of the prisoners were released as part of the armistice deals. A new round of armistice talks in the Qatari capital, Doha, will resume on Monday.

The government is targeting

A spokesman for Colombia said that the school is prohibited by the law from sharing information about individual students.

The Ministry of Internal Security and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which oversees the country’s visa system, did not respond to questions from news agencies. It was not immediately clear on the lands arrested by the ice agents Khalil. The ice comes under the US Department of Internal Security.

In an interview with Reuters news agency a few hours before his arrest on Saturday about the Trump administration’s criticism of Colombia, Khalil said he was concerned that he was targeting the government to speak to the media.

The Trump administration said on Friday that it had canceled government contracts and grants of about $ 400 million to the University of Colombia. The government said that the cuts and students ’deportation efforts are caused by a“ anti -Semitic ”harassment on the Manhattan campus in Colombia.

“What can Colombia do to satisfy Congress or government now?” Khalil said before his arrest, noting that Colombia has twice contacted the police to arrest the demonstrators and to discipline many students and employees supporting the Palestinians, and some of them were suspended.

“They were mainly caught anyone who supports Palestine on the campus and this was not enough. It is clear that Trump uses the demonstrators as a scapegoat for his wider business schedule [of] Combating and attacking higher education and Ivy League education system. “

In response to the discounts announced on Friday, Katrina Armstrong, the interim president of Colombia, said that the school is committed to combating anti -Semitism and was “working with the federal government to address its legitimate concerns.”

The protesting students denied the accusations of anti -Semitism.

“This is only the beginning.”

Maryam Alwan, a major Palestinian American in Colombia, who protested alongside Khalil, said that the Trump administration was removing the Palestinian humanity.

She said: “I am terrified by my dear friend Mahmoud, a legal resident, and I am terrified that this is the beginning only.”

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said last week that international students supporting Hamas, which were identified by the United States, “a terrorist” organization, were facing the abolition of the visa and deportation.

On Thursday, Colombia released a revised protocol of how students and school staff deal with ICE agents who seek to enter private school property.

The school said that the ice agents who are not allowed to have a judicial arrest memorandum to enter its own property in “multiple circumstances”, which were not determined.

“By allowing ice on the campus, Colombia succumbs to the Trump administration’s assault on universities throughout the country and sacrificing international students to protect its financial resources,” said student workers in Colombia in its statement.

Khalil lives in a university residential building near the main campus in Colombia.