On Monday, U.S. President Donald Trump stated that the detention of Mahmoud Khalil (one of the leaders of pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia University in New York) was “the first arrest, and more will follow.”
In a post on his Truth Social platform, the U.S. President said, “We know there are more students at Columbia and other universities across the country who have participated in pro-terrorism, anti-Semitic, and anti-American activities, and my administration will not tolerate this.”
Khalil is one of the prominent leaders of the ongoing protests at Columbia University since last year against the Israeli war in Gaza. He was detained by U.S. federal immigration police over the weekend.
In a statement, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said the detention was “in line with executive orders issued by President Trump banning anti-Semitism and in coordination with the Department of State,” according to the statement.
Khalil, a recent graduate from Columbia University, was a permanent resident (Green Card holder) in the United States at the time of his arrest, according to the university’s student union.
In his post, Trump hinted at further actions against other protesters, claiming that some of them were “paid instigators,” without providing any evidence.
Trump wrote, “We will find these sympathizers of terrorists in our country, arrest them, and deport them. They will never return.”
Two days earlier, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi stated that the Trump administration would work to end what she described as the “tolerance for anti-Semitism” in American universities, hours after a decision was made to cut hundreds of millions of dollars in funding to Columbia University, where the protests against the Israeli war on Gaza had started.
U.S. universities, including Columbia University, have witnessed student protests against the war launched by Israel in response to an unprecedented attack by the Palestinian resistance movement (Hamas) on October 7, 2023.
