ICE arrests Pro-Palestinian activist involved with Columbia encampment

• Greer told the AP that an agent informed her in a phone call that they were executing an order from the State Department to revoke Khalil's student visa. Upon being informed he was a permanent resident with a green card, the agent said they were pulling his green card too.
• Greer said in a statement to Axios that Khalil's legal team was informed Sunday morning he had been transferred to an ICE facility in Elizabeth, New Jersey. But when his pregnant wife, a U.S. citizen who was also threatened with arrest by ICE, went to visit him, she was told he was not there.

What they're saying: Tricia McLaughlin, a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) spokesperson, alleged in a statement that Khalil "led activities aligned to Hamas, a designated terrorist organization."

• She said he was arrested "in support of President Trump's executive orders prohibiting anti-Semitism."

Columbia University said in a Sunday statement about reports of ICE on campus that law enforcement must have a judicial warrant to enter university buildings.

• ICE arrested Khalil at his university-owned apartment, Greer told the AP.
• A State Department spokesperson told Axios that the department has broad authority to revoke visas but said they could not comment on individual cases.

A petition calling for Khalil's immediate release said he has been the target of "various zionist harassment campaigns" that serve to "instill fear in pro-Palestine activists as well as a warning to others."

• Khalil told the AP before his arrest that the university accused him of misconduct weeks before his December 2024 graduation, adding that most of the allegations concerned social media posts he had "nothing to do with."
• Khalil became one of the most well-known student activists during the Columbia encampment and protest last spring, giving interviews and engaging in negotiations with the university about the protesters' demands.

Friction point: Khalil's detainment comes as the Trump administration has called for revoking student visas for foreign nationals it deems to be "Hamas sympathizers" — a process Axios reported would involve AI-assisted reviews of tens of thousands of student visa holders' social media accounts.

• Columbia also remains in the crosshairs of the White House, which announced Friday it would yank some $400 million in federal grants and contracts from the university. The school became the epicenter of nationwide protests last spring over Israel's handling of the war in Gaza.
• The Trump Education Department cited alleged inaction in the face of "persistent harassment of Jewish students" in announcing it would slash funding, saying additional cancelations are expected to follow.
• Days before, President Trump threatened to halt federal funding for schools and universities that allow "illegal protests."

What we're watching: "We will vigorously be pursuing Mahmoud's rights in court, and will continue our efforts to right this terrible and inexcusable – and calculated – wrong committed against him," Greer said.

• His arrest follows what she described as the government's "open repression of student activism and political speech," targeting Columbia students protesting the Israel-Hamas war, in particular.
• "The U.S. government has made clear that they will use immigration enforcement as a tool to suppress that speech," she said.

Go deeper: ICE fears prompt foreign workers and students to keep visas close

Editor's note: This story was updated with a statement from a DHS spokesperson.