Who is Mahmoud Khalil? Palestinian activist detained by ICE over Columbia University protests

(CNN) — President Donald Trump has likened Mahmoud Khalil to a terrorist sympathizer. Others portray him as a Palestinian activist, singled out for his outspoken support for his own people.

But long before he was arrested by federal agents Saturday night, Khalil told CNN he felt called to advocate for the liberation of both the Palestinian and Jewish people as a refugee.

“As a Palestinian student, I believe that the liberation of the Palestinian people and the Jewish people are intertwined and go hand-by-hand and you cannot achieve one without the other,” he told CNN last spring when he was one of the negotiators representing student demonstrators during talks with Columbia University’s administration.

“Our movement is a movement for social justice and freedom and equality for everyone,” he said.

Khalil, who completed work on his masters degree from Columbia University in December and is a legal resident of the US, was arrested and detained by federal agents after his lawyer said his green card was revoked by the Trump administration.

His attorney, Amy Greer, said Khalil’s wife, who is an American citizen, was also present during his arrest and is eight months pregnant.

A federal judge blocked any immediate effort by the Trump administration to deport Khalil, late Monday afternoon. Judge Jesse Furman ordered a hearing on Khalil’s case to be held Wednesday morning in New York City.

Greer said she spoke to Khalil on Monday, and he is “healthy and his spirits are undaunted by his predicament.”

“He was chosen as an example to stifle entirely lawful dissent, in violation of the First Amendment,” she said in a statement. “The government’s objective is as transparent as it is unlawful.”

But there are those – including Trump and his administration – who view Khalil’s pro-Palestinian activism as acts of antisemitism and support for Hamas.

“Following my previously signed executive orders, ICE proudly apprehended and detained Mahmoud Khalil, a radical foreign pro-Hamas Student on the campus of Columbia University,” Trump posted Monday on Truth Social. “This is the first arrest of many to come.”

Khalil is being held at a detention facility in Jena, Louisiana, according to a source with direct knowledge of the case. Here’s what we know about him.

‘We are the lucky ones that made it’ to the US

In an interview with CNN last spring, Khalil said he was born a Palestinian refugee in Syria, but his family is from Tiberias, an Israeli city that was once known for its mixed Jewish and Arab population.

During the Arab-Israeli War in 1948, Palestinians were forcibly removed from cities like Tiberias in what became known as “The Nakba,” or catastrophe.

Khalil grew up in Syria and earned his bachelor’s degree in computer science from Lebanese American University, according to his LinkedIn profile. Before enrolling at Columbia, he held multiple roles in international development, including with the United Kingdom’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.

In 2023, Khalil began studying to earn his master’s degree in public administration at Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs. Then, Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023.

The Israel-Hamas War thrust Columbia University and its students into the national spotlight as pro-Palestinian demonstrations swept through college campuses.

Building on a tradition of student-led anti-war protests at Columbia, a coalition of students established encampments on campus, held rallies and staged “teach-ins.” But the movement was also tainted by instances of rampant antisemitism, which Khalil disavowed.

“There is, of course, no place for antisemitism,” he told CNN in April. “What we are witnessing is anti-Palestinian sentiment that’s taking different forms and antisemitism, Islamophobia, racism (are) some of these forms.”

Khalil reportedly suspended, then reinstated as a Columbia student

Khalil added that he chose not to participate directly in the student encampments because he did not want to risk the university revoking his student visa.

Instead, he gave speeches and was one of the students selected to lead discussions with university administrators on behalf of Columbia University Apartheid Divest, a coalition of student organizations that demanded, among other things, the university to divest from its financial ties to Israel and a ceasefire in Gaza.

“I always say that we are the lucky ones that made it here to speak for our people who are under oppression in Palestine and across the refugee camps and the Palestinian cities,” Khalil said, adding that at times he’s felt “survival guilt” over his inability to “do anything meaningful for the (Palestinian) people” other than protest.

“I was fearful of actively engaging in protests at some points because of different threats (and) because of the university’s policies regarding this but again, we organized. We prevailed to do something for our people.”

Days after Khalil spoke to CNN, the university missed its deadline to reach an agreement on divestment. In response, students, as well as people unaffiliated with the school, entered Columbia’s Hamilton Hall and barricaded themselves inside. The university ultimately requested police assistance to remove the protesters and more than 280 people were arrested, according to the NYPD.

After the demonstration at Hamilton Hall, Khalil told the BBC the university moved to suspend him, then abruptly reversed the decision.

“[They said] that after reviewing the evidence, they don’t have any evidence to suspend (me),” he told the BBC. “It shows how random the suspension was … they did that randomly, and without due process.”

Now, nearly a year later, Khalil’s attorney, as well as First Amendment advocates, say he’s facing a similar denial of due process, following his arrest by federal agents on Saturday.

Ben Wizner, director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project, called Khalil’s arrest “unprecedented, illegal, and un-American.”

“The First Amendment protects everyone in the US. The government’s actions are obviously intended to intimidate and chill speech on one side of a public debate,” Wizner said in a statement Monday.

More than 1.7 million people have signed a letter to demand Khalil’s “immediate release,” according to a petition on Action Network. And in New York City, hundreds gathered outside the Jacob K. Javits Federal Building – ICE has a field office – on Monday to protest Khalil’s arrest, chanting “We want justice, you say ‘how?’ release Mahmoud Khalil now!”

Still, there are those who celebrated the Trump administration’s crack down on antisemitism and its so-called ringleaders on college campuses. In a statement posted to X, the Anti-Defamation League praised the administration for its resolve to curb antisemitism.

“This action further illustrates that resolve by holding alleged perpetrators responsible for their actions,” the ADL said. “Obviously, any deportation action or revocation of a Green Card or visa must be undertaken in alignment with required due process protections.”

CNN’s Jeff Winter, Alaa Elassar and Shimon Prokupecz contributed to this report.

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