The demonstrators gathered on Saturday outside the US headquarters of the immigration and customs authority (ICE) in Washington, DC to request the release of the Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil – a Green Card owner and the latest graduates from Columbia University, who contributed to organizing campus protests last year.
Demonstrators later took to the street and sang: “We want justice, they say how. Free Mahmoud Khalil now!” And “free all students today.” Many kept banners with the inscription “Free Palestine”, “publish Mahmoud Khalil” and “Ice of our campus”.
Protests also took place in New York City where demonstrators gathered on Times Square before they marched to Columbus Circle. The organizers condemned Khalils detention and argued that his protest law was protected at the first change.
“Attacks on Mahmoud Khalil are not an attack on one person, they are an attack on anyone who dares to get up and speak for justice,” said a demonstrator.
The graduate of Columbia University was arrested on March 8 in his apartment at the University of ICE agents. The arrest was carried out according to an order from the US Foreign Minister Marco Rubio to revoke his student visa and his Green Card. The Trump government, who played an outstanding role in Pro-Palestinian demonstrations last year, accused Khalil, to participate in “activities oriented with Hamas”, although no evidence was presented. He is currently being recorded in an ice discovering center in the state of Louisiana.
President Donald Trump has defended the detention and explains that Khalil's case is “the first of many coming up” than his administration moves to exist against those who have joined protests against Israel's war against the Gaza Strip, who has killed more than 48,500 Palestinians since October 2023.
Rubio said on Friday that the USA will be revoked visas for more students in the coming days.
A video published by Khalil's lawyers on Friday showed that the federal agents had arrested him in the lobby of his apartment building. Khalil records the film material, who closely complies with the officers as his wife Noor Abdalla to obtain information about his location. Abdalla, an American citizen who is eighth month pregnant, asked the agents to answer: “We do not give our names.”
Khalil's lawyers argue that his arrest for “exercising his first amendments to defend the Palestinians in the Gaza”, politically motivated and part of a more comprehensive approach to pro-Palestinian demonstrations.
