Mahmoud Khalil Ice Arrest: Judge who considers problems of freedom of expression at the Pro-Palestinian Activist of Columbia

New York (WABC) – A judge will evaluate the arrest of a pro-Palestinian activist at Columbia University.

Mahmoud Khalil was taken by ICE earlier this weekeven though it has a green card.

The government is trying to deport Mahmoud Khalil, a permanent legal resident and defender of the Palestinian movement, accusing him of the terrorist side.

Khalil directed demonstrations against the Israel War in Gaza, which shook the Columbia campus last year.

Khalil’s arrest during the weekend has caused protests throughout the city, ending with hundreds of arrests.

The case has given alarms about the protections of freedom of expression, while President Donald Trump continues to take energetic measures against protests in universities.

The White House said the University of Columbia is “denying” the National Security Department to identify people on the campus that have “involved in the pro-hamas.”

Last week, the Trump administration announced that it was Cut $ 400 million in subsidies and contracts For Columbia University due to what they say they were failure to combat anti -Semitism on campus.

As for Wednesday, a judge will hold a hearing after Khalil’s arrest.

“Did the law break the law, or is it this political punishment?” Kathy Hochul rule
saying.

“The University of Columbia has received names from other people who have participated in the pro -hamas activity, and are rejecting DHS’s help to identify these people on campus,” said Karoline Leavitt, a white house secretary.

The court is scheduled for 11:30 am on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Khalil is detained at an immigration detention center in Jena, Louisiana, while waiting for the immigration court procedures that could eventually lead him to be deported.

According to a statement published by his wife, a day before being arrested, Khalil “begged” the University of Columbia for his legal support for fear that ICE or dangerous people will point him out.

Khalil supposedly sent an email to the university urging them to intervene, says his wife.

“I have not been able to sleep, fearing that the ice or a dangerous individual will come home. I urgently need legal support and urge you to intervene,” he said, according to reports, in his email.

His wife states that the university never responded.

ABC News has communicated with Columbia to comment and has not independently reviewed the reported emails.

His wife, who is the eight -month pregnancy, says that a “Doxxing” campaign began attacking her husband about six days ago and the antipalestine groups were also spreading “false statements” about him.

His wife told the moment he was also threatened with arrest when she refused to leave her husband with the agents. She states that they were never shown a court order.

“I was born and grew up in the west. My parents came here from Syria, carrying their stories about the oppressive regime there that made life without housing. They believed that living in the United States would bring a sense of security and stability. But here, 40 years after my parents were emigrated here, and only weeks before giving birth to our first child, and I feel more unblocking and unstable that in my complete life in my life complete in my life, in my life in my life, in my life in my life, in my life in my life, in my life, in my life, in my life in my life, in my life, in my life, in my life, in my life, in my life, in my life, in my life, in my life in my life, my life in my life in my life in my life in my life in my life in my life, She, she, she.

His arrest has caused criticism that he is being unfairly and illegally attacked for his activism, while the federal government has essentially described it as a terrorist sympathizer.

Many Jewish students and professors of Columbia say they have felt threatened by the protests they helped organize and the acquisition of campus buildings.

Some argued that Trump’s repression could have been avoided if Columbia had done more to protect Jewish students.

“We have launched glorifying flyers on October 7, the flyers that glorified Nasrallah, the head of the designated terrorist organization of Hezbollah,” said student Sam Nahins. “I do not know if the administration is only in a witch hunt or any type of hunting in Columbia specifically, but there are students who inform other students to ice because there has been a lack of action by Columbia.”

Khalil has not been accused of a crime and immigration experts say that his arrest is a great step on the government and stinks of authoritarianism.

(Associated Press contributed to this report).

Related | Judge blocks Columbia athlete arrested by ICE

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