Arrest of Former Student for Hamas-Aligned Activities

"This is an individual who organized group protests that not only disrupted college campus classes and harassed Jewish American students and made them feel unsafe," said White House Press Secretary Leavitt.

No media source currently available The recent arrest and impending deportation of Mahmoud Khalil, a former student at Columbia University, a leader of pro-Hamas protests on campus, and a U.S. green cardholder, are not a matter of free speech, said Secretary of State Marco Rubio. “This is about people that don’t have a right to be in the United States to begin with. No one has a right to a student visa. No one has a right to a green card, by the way.” Khalil, who was born in Syria to Palestinian parents, first came to the United States in 2022 on a student visa. Secretary Rubio emphasized that a visa means someone is in the United States as a visitor. “We can deny you that visa,” he said. “If you tell us when you apply, ‘Hi, I’m trying to get into the United States on a student visa; I am a big supporter of Hamas, a murderous, barbaric group that kidnaps children, that rapes teenage girls, that takes hostages, that allows them to die in captivity, that returns more bodies than live hostages. ... And, by the way, I intend to come to your country as a student and rile up all kinds of anti-Jewish student, anti-Semitic activities, I intend to shut down your universities’ – if you told us all these things when you applied for a visa, we would deny your visa.” “If you actually end up doing that once you’re in this country on a such a visa, we will revoke it,” said Secretary Rubio. “And,” he added, “if you end up having a green card - not citizenship – as a result of that visa while you’re here and [participating in] those activities, we’re going to kick you out.” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt commented on the consequences of the months-long protests Khalil led. “This is an individual who organized group protests that not only disrupted college campus classes and harassed Jewish American students and made them feel unsafe on their own college campus, but also distributed pro-Hamas propaganda,” she said. “And this administration is not going to tolerate individuals having the privilege of studying in our country and then siding with pro-terrorist organizations that have killed Americans.” In a social media post, President Trump Donald said, “We will find, apprehend, and deport these terrorist sympathizers from our country — never to return again.”