ACLU publishes a video by Columbia Student Heavy – NBC New York

The American Civil Liberties Union published a 2-minute video last weekend, which documented Mahmoud Khalil's arrest last weekend, which led many protests on the Columbia University campus last year.

“Plainclothes agents capture Mahmoud Khalil out of his house and take. His wife Noor Abdalla, who is 8 months pregnant, recorded the video,” wrote the ACLU in a caption that was posted on Instagram on Friday.

The video begins with men, apparently federal immigration officers who surround Khalil in the lobby of his building.

“You will be arrested,” says a man Khalil. “Turn around. Turn around. Turn around. Stop resisting yourself.”

The men put Khalil in handcuffs and accompany him from the building in a car that is parked on the street. Abdalla, who records the exchange on the phone, follows the men outside while trying to speak to a lawyer.

She repeatedly asks the men for her name. They refuse to answer Abdalla's questions to seek identification. The men only tell her that Khalil is brought to immigration custody 26 Federal Field Plaza.

“The agents refused to show his wife an arrest warrant and put on the family's lawyer, who desperately searched for answers,” claims the ACLU.

What happened?

Khalil was arrested on Saturday evening when he and his wife returned to her apartment at the University of Columbia from officials from the US Ministry of Homeland in Upper Manhattan.

The agents told the couple that Khalil was arrested because his student visa had been revoked.

When his wife provided documents that prove that he was a Green Card holder, the agents said that this was also revoked and took him away in handcuffs, a lawsuit that Khalil's lawyers who had his detention in question were submitted.

Why does he stand before deportation?

The Department of Homeland Security confirmed its arrest on Saturday and accused Khalil, “activities that were geared towards Hamas, a proven terrorist organization.

The White House, which will go out more in its position on Tuesday, claimed that Khalil had organized protests where Propaganda was distributed by Pro-Hamas.

“This administration will not tolerate people who have the privilege of studying in our country, and then with pro-terrorist organizations that have killed Americans, up to date,” said Karoline Leavitt, press spokeswoman for Trump.

A lawyer from Khalil, Samah Sisay, said there was no evidence that his client supported a terrorist organization of all kinds.

“They try to make an example for him to prevent others from giving a similar speech,” said Sisay of Associated Press. “Not to agree with the foreign policy decision of your government to support Israel is no reason for her to be in the deportation procedure.”

Who is Mahmoud Khalil?

Khalil was one of the most visible activists in the protests in Columbia last spring, which also took place on other college campus all over the world.

He served as a student negotiator – a role that often spoke to university officials and the press.

In recent times, he was one of the Pro-Palestinian activists who were examined by a new disciplinary authority at Columbia University that focused on harassment and discrimination complaints.

In December, Khalil completed his master in public administration at the Columbia School of International and Public Affairs.

What is his legal status?

Khalil was born and grew up in Syria after his Palestinian grandparents had been removed from her homeland, according to his lawsuit.

In 2022 he came to the United States with a student visa to pursue his degree in Columbia.

In 2023, Khalil married his wife, who is a US citizen. He became a legal constant resident last year – also known as Green Card owner.

Can the Green Card owner government deport?

Short answer: yes. Green Card owners can be deported, but the government has the burden to prove that the person has been deported.

According to Stephen Yale-Loehr, an expert for immigration law and retired Cornell Law School Professor, deportation of deportations can be condemned from a number of crimes, from murder, assault and burglary to tax evasion, domestic violence and illegal possession of firearms.

However, a legal constant resident can also be identified for material support for a group of terrorists. In this case, the government does not need a criminal conviction to raise deportation offers, he said.

“The material support for immigration purposes is much wider than the criminal definition of the term,” said Yale-Lohr. “For example, people were deported because they simply made a cup of water or a bowl of rice groups available under compulsion.”

Where is Khalil?

Khalil is held in a federal immigration facility in a city in the central -Louisiana in a city in the central -Louisiana.

The Central Louisiana Ice Processing Center in Jena, a low complex that is drawn by barbed wire fences, can hold around 1,160 prisoners.

Louisiana became a center for immigrants during the first Trump government and has nine centers, most of private contractors.

Critics say that the isolated complex prisoners cut off from simple access to lawyers and family.

“The intention is to break morality, the spirits of those who are held in these facilities,” said Yasmine Taeb, the legislative and political director of the Muslim activist group MPOWER CHANGE, reporters on Tuesday.