The TOI correspondent from Washington: The Trump administration on Monday expanded its crackdown on foreign pro-Palestinian/anti-Israeli activists in the US to include permanent residents, warning that their green cards will be revoked so they can be deported.
Days after a Chinese scholar at UCLA on a student visa was deported for participating in an anti-Israeli protest, the administration broadened the measure to include green card holders, after arresting a Palestinian student-activist at New York’s Columbia University who it said led activities aligned to Hamas, a designated terrorist organization.
Mahmoud Khalil, the student-activist, was initially detained on the assumption that he was on a student visa, but when it was discovered he was actually a green card holder, which allows permanent residency in the US and is a pathway to naturalized citizenship, authorities said even the green card will be revoked.
“We will be revoking the visas and/or green cards of Hamas supporters in America so they can be deported,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced wrote on X, opening the door for any permanent resident indulging in activities inimical to the US or consorting with outfits the US designates as terrorist organization to be deported.
US immigration law allows the government to revoke a permanent resident’s green card and immigration status if they’ve been convicted of certain crimes, including crimes of “moral turpitude.” As of 2024, there are nearly 13 million green card holders in the US, some 10 million of whom are eligible to become US citizens.
Khalil, a Syrian national, served as a key negotiator between students and university officials to the end of anti-Israeli demonstrations at Columbia last year, bringing him into the limelight. He was one of the few activists who publicly identified himself at a campus that became the epicenter of anti-Israeli protest following its attacks on Gaza in retribution for Hamas’ terrorist attack.
“On March 9, 2025, in support of President Trump’s executive orders prohibiting anti-Semitism, and in coordination with the Department of State, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested Mahmoud Khalil, a former Columbia University graduate student. Khalil led activities aligned to Hamas, a designated terrorist organization,” a Homeland Security spokesperson said, adding that ICE and the Department of State are “committed to enforcing President Trump’s executive orders and to protecting U.S. national security.”
Khalil’s attorney Amy Greer told ABC News that his wife, who is eight months pregnant and a US citizen, was unable to locate him after his arrest, and alleged that the Trump administration is openly “repressing student activism and political speech, specifically targeting students at Columbia University for criticism of Israel’s assault on Gaza.”
Khalil’s arrest and possible deportation — which is certain to be challenged in court — comes days after President Trump canned $400 million in federal funding to Columbia for its purported failure to combat the pro-Palestinian protests, which the administration has characterized as anti-semitic and involved “persistent harassment of Jewish students.”
