(The Center Square) — The Trump administration is ratcheting up pressure on New York’s Columbia University as it seeks to identify participants in pro-Palestinian demonstrations last year for possible deportation after immigration authorities detained a prominent Palestinian activist.
On Saturday, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested and detained Mahmoud Khalil, a legal U.S. resident and Palestinian activist who led protests at Columbia last year. He is facing deportation and appeared before a federal immigration judge on Tuesday.
President Donald Trump has vowed to arrest more demonstrators, and White House Press Secretary Karoline Levitt blasted Columbia University for “refusing to help” the Department of Homeland Security identify individuals on campus “who have engaged in pro-Hamas activity.”
“As the president said very strongly in his statement yesterday, he is not going to tolerate that,” Leavitt told reporters at a Tuesday briefing.
Last year, the university was the scene of large-scale demonstrations by students and others who set up makeshift encampments and called for an end to the Israeli military’s war against Hamas in Gaza and a recognition of Palestinians’ territorial claims. The NYPD was eventually called in to break up the protests and encampments on campus. Columbia’s then-president, Minouche Shafik, resigned during the week of the demonstrations.
Columbia hasn’t responded directly to the allegations that it is sheltering individuals sought by the Trump administration but sent a letter to students last week saying it will not allow ICE agents onto campus unless they have a judicial warrant.
“We will follow the law, as has always been the case, and rumors suggesting that any member of Columbia leadership requested the presence of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents on or near campus are false,” Interim President Katrina Armstrong wrote in the letter.
“It remains the long-standing practice of the University, and the practice of cities and institutions throughout the country, that law enforcement must have a judicial warrant to enter non-public University areas, including residential University buildings,” she added.
Last week, the Trump administration announced it was pulling $400 million in federal grants and contracts from the university, accusing school administrators of failing to stop antisemitism on campus.
The crack-down was praised by the Anti-Defamation League, which released a statement saying there “should be swift and severe consequences for those who provide material support to foreign terrorist organizations, incite violence in support of terrorist activities, or conceal their identities in order to harass and intimidate Jewish individuals and institutions with impunity.”
“We appreciate the Trump Administration’s broad, bold set of efforts to counter campus antisemitism — and this action further illustrates that resolve by holding alleged perpetrators responsible for their actions,” the group said.
