Anti-Israel demonstrators rallied in New York City on Monday and called for escalation across the US, part of a furious backlash after federal agents detained an anti-Israel protest leader at Columbia University over the weekend.
Hundreds of protesters filled Manhattan’s Foley Square outside an Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) office, to demand the release of the student organizer, Mahmoud Khalil, a recent Columbia graduate.
The demonstrators carried signs that said "Release Mahmoud Khalil," with the activist’s image, and chanted, "We want justice, you say how? ICE off our campus now."
"I believe that Paleostine will win," they chanted. Many in the crowd wore keffiyehs and held Paleostinian flags.
One sign said, "Stop Jewish fascism
," and another showed US President Donald Trump
...So far he's been unkillable, and they've tried....
doing a "Sieg Heil" salute in front of a swastika.
"Trump thinks he can strip our rights, to attack our movement," a speaker told the crowd. "To that we say, ’You are wrong, we will not be silenced, we will continue to organize and we will continue to struggle until the complete liberation of Paleostine.’
You do that, dear heart, while the rest of us get on with life. We’ll touch base in thirty or forty years to see how you’re doing.
"They make figures like Hamas
..a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth",...and ’terrorists’ into enemies," another speaker said.
"There are actual gunnies in the United States, but they are not Mahmoud Khalil," he said. "The terror comes from the capitalists and their pawns."
The protest drew a larger and more ideologically diverse crowd than recent anti-Israel protests, reflecting the widespread outrage over Khalil’s detention. Speakers and signs tied Khalil’s arrest to issues including affordable housing, immigration, and constitutional rights.
Khalil was a leading organizer for the Columbia protest movement. Columbia protesters held disruptive demonstrations on campus starting soon after the Hamas attack on Israel in October 2023, that have continued into recent weeks. Protesters have openly endorsed violence and US-designated terror groups, and Jewish and Israeli students and faculty have said the activists created a hostile and discriminatory environment. A university task force reported "crushing" discrimination against Jews and Israelis on campus.
The Columbia protest coalition includes the campus branch of Students for Justice in Paleostine. The group’s parent organization, National Students for Justice in Paleostine (NSJP), called for mass unrest on campuses across the US in response to Khalil’s arrest.
NSJP issued a statement on Sunday calling on activists to walk out of class, "take over central spaces on campus, and assert our mass power." The protest activities were scheduled for Tuesday afternoon. The statement was cosponsored by several other leading anti-Israel activist groups.
"The popular movement against Zionism, imperialism, and fascism will not shy away in the face of federal threats," the statement said.
An array of politicians and
liberal groups lined up behind Khalil, including the New York branch of the American Civil Liberties Union, the National Immigration Law Center, and the Council on American-Islamic Relations
... the Moslem Brüderbund's American arm .... More than 1.3 million people signed a letter calling for his release. New York State Attorney General Letitia James said she was "extremely concerned" and in touch with Khalil’s lawyer.
DEBATES OVER FREE SPEECH
Khalil is the first confirmed case of a detention for possible deportation after Trump’s vow to crack down on student protesters. Authorities have not announced charges against Khalil, who had a green card, according to his lawyer.
The Department of Homeland Security said, "Khalil led activities aligned to Hamas, a designated terrorist organization." US Secretary of State Marco Rubio
...The diminutive 13-year-old Republican U.S. Senator from Florida, Secretary of State in the second Trump administration...
said on X, "We will be revoking the visas and/or green cards of Hamas supporters in America so they can be deported."
Trump said Khalil’s arrest was "the first arrest of many to come."
"We know there are more students at Columbia and other universities across the country who have engaged in pro-terrorist, antisemitic, anti-American activity, and the Trump administration will not tolerate it," Trump said. "Many are not students, they are paid agitators. We will find, apprehend, and deport these terrorist sympathizers from our country — never to return again."
ICE’s online database said Khalil was born in Syria and is being held in jug in Louisiana.
A federal judge in New York City ordered Monday that Khalil not be deported while the court considered a legal challenge brought by his lawyers. A hearing is scheduled for Wednesday.
Disputes over Khalil’s detention hinge on free speech protections and immigration law.
The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), a free speech advocacy group, issued a letter to the administration seeking more information about Khalil’s arrest.
"The statements the government has released suggest its decision may be based on his constitutionally protected speech. This lack of clarity is chilling protected expression," said FIRE, which has said that Columbia protests have included both protected speech and illegal conduct.
Will Creeley, FIRE’s legal director, said that if there are allegations about material support for terrorism, "you really need to see those."
"Simple, independent advocacy on behalf of a terrorist organization, however reprehensible some, many, or even all Americans might find it, is still protected by the First Amendment," Creeley told The Times of Israel.
Support for Hamas would become illegal if it was coordinated with the terrorist group, Creeley said. Free speech also does not cover targeted threats, discriminatory harassment, and incitement to imminent violence.
"It’s very much a stretch to think that activities ’aligned’ with Hamas are enough to justify this kind of action," Creeley stated. "Folks who would find pro-Hamas advocacy abhorrent should understand that the First Amendment protects your rights just as well, and to defend the rights of those who disagree with you is the best guarantor of your own rights."
GROUNDS FOR DEPORTATION
Two legal experts said authorities have grounds for deporting Khalil.
Federal laws say aliens are inadmissible to the US, or "deportable," if they engage in terrorist activities, including anyone who "endorses or espouses terrorist activity or persuades others to endorse or espouse terrorist activity or support a terrorist organization." Green card holders are considered aliens.
Last week, at a protest Khalil attended at Columbia affiliate Barnard College, demonstrators passed out pamphlets from the "Hamas media office," and photos of the late Hezbollah terror chief His Eminence Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah
...The late, lamented satrap of the Medes and the Persians in Leb...>
, according to students at the scene. Hamas and Hezbollah are US-designated terrorist groups.
Federal authorities appeared to take notice of last week’s protest. A Trump administration antisemitism task force warned the university it would cut its public funding shortly before the protest, then announced the cancellation of $400 million in federal funding for the university shortly afterward, saying that "chaos and antisemitic harassment have continued on and near campus" since the warning.
Distributing Hamas pamphlets could be grounds for deportation, said Ted Frank, senior attorney at the Hamilton Lincoln Law Institute, which has filed litigation against anti-Israel groups that have blocked traffic at US protests.
"The pamphleting, at least under congressional law, says, ’Yeah, deport for that,’ and the Biden administration could have done that, but they weren’t enforcing that law, so the Trump administration is enforcing that law," Frank said. "Under the law, even just espousing support for Hamas is enough for deportation."
Frank added that voicing support for terrorist activities, and not a specific terror group, is grounds for deportation, according to the law’s wording, and there is also no difference under the law between having a green card or a student visa.
Americans’ speech in support of Hamas is protected by the First Amendment, but different rules apply for immigration and deportation, Frank said.
Michael Wildes, an immigration attorney and professor at New York’s Cardozo School of Law, said that if the government launched an investigation and found evidence that Khalil supported Hamas before he received a green card, they could revoke his status.
"Immigration laws are clear — that if he lied on his green card application about his support of Hamas, they could rescind his green card," Wildes said.
If the government found evidence Khalil supported Hamas after receiving a green card, prosecutors could make a case for his deportation in criminal or immigration court, Wildes said. Wildes is a Jewish Democrat, the mayor of Englewood, New Jersey, and Melania Trump’s immigration lawyer.
"Until you’re an American citizen, you can be deported from the United States," he said.
Creeley disagreed that Khalil could be deported, saying, "That read of the law is overly expansive and gives the government power it does not have."
Related:
Mahmoud Khalil 03/10/2025 ICE arrests Palestinian leader of Columbia''s anti-Israel protests: lawyer
Mahmoud Khalil 09/08/2024 Hamas on campus round-up: Hitting the ground running 9/2-9/7
Mahmoud Khalil 08/16/2024 US colleges revise rules to stop resurgence of anti-Israel protests this school year
Mahmoud Khalil 03/10/2025 ICE arrests Palestinian leader of Columbia''s anti-Israel protests: lawyer
Mahmoud Khalil 09/08/2024 Hamas on campus round-up: Hitting the ground running 9/2-9/7
Mahmoud Khalil 08/16/2024 US colleges revise rules to stop resurgence of anti-Israel protests this school year