Detention of Mahmoud Khalil

Mahmoud Khalil, a student activist at Columbia University and lead negotiator in the Gaza Solidarity Encampment during the Gaza war and genocide, was taken from his Columbia residential apartment building in the Morningside Heights neighborhood of New York City by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents on March 8, 2025. The agents did not have a warrant and were acting on orders from the State Department to revoke Khalil's student visa. When the agents were informed that Khalil is a lawful permanent resident, they said that status would be revoked instead. He was transported to LaSalle Detention Center in Jena, Louisiana, where he was held until being released on bail on June 20.

The detention became the first publicly known deportation effort related to pro-Palestine activism during the presidency of Donald Trump, who threatened to punish students and others for allegedly engaging in activities aligned to Hamas. Khalil's detention received widespread backlash from civil rights organizations, members of the Democratic Party, and lawyers, who argue that it was an attack on freedom of speech and the First Amendment.

There is no criminal charge against Khalil. Instead, the government's argument depends on a section of the Cold War–era Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 (INA), which provides that aliens in the U.S. may be deported if the secretary of state believes their presence will have serious negative consequences for U.S. foreign policy. Several journalists and human rights organizations have noted this law's connection to McCarthyism.

On April 1, 2025, New Jersey federal district judge Michael E. Farbiarz issued a stay on Khalil's deportation while the court considered the constitutionality of his arrest and detention. Farbiarz later ruled that the relevant section of the INA was likely unconstitutional and ordered that Khalil be released on bail. After the government appealed, the Third Circuit ruled on January 15, 2026, that Khalil must exhaust the immigration court system before resuming his case in the federal court system.

On April 11, 2025, Louisiana immigration judge Jamee E. Comans ruled that Khalil was deportable under Secretary of State Marco Rubio's assertion that Khalil's continued presence posed "adverse foreign policy consequences". Comans said she had no authority to question that determination. She later ruled that Khalil was deportable to Syria or Algeria on the basis that he had omitted information about his organization memberships when he applied for his green card. Khalil is appealing to the Board of Immigration Appeals.