Rally at University of Chicago in support of Columbia University pro-Palestine activist after ICE arrest
Dozens of University of Chicago students and faculty members rallied on Tuesday in support of a former Columbia University student and pro-Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil, who was arrested by federal immigration authorities over the weekend in New York.
Protests in Chicago joined protests growing in New York, specifically down the streets in Lower Manhattan.
"We don't want our friends and colleagues to be deported," said University of Chicago professor Callie Maidhof.
Protestors said Khalil's arrest by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents was unsettling, saying it kills advocacy for freedom of speech. Khalil helped lead student pro-Palestinian protests and encampments at Columbia University last year.
Khalil is from Syria, has a green card which allows him permanent resident status, and his wife is a U.S. citizen who is eight months pregnant.
Federal authorities claimed they were acting on a State Department order to revoke Khalil's green card.
Khalil was at his university-owned apartment Saturday night, blocks from Columbia's Manhattan campus, when several ICE agents entered the building and took him into custody. He is being held at the Central Louisiana ICE Processing Center in Jena, Louisiana.
The Department of Homeland Security said in a statement that Khalil's arrest was "in support of President Trump's executive orders prohibiting anti-Semitism." The agency alleged that Khalil "led activities aligned to Hamas, a designated terrorist organization," but did not provide any details.
President Trump has said Khalil's arrest is the first "of many to come" amid his administration's crackdown on students and alleged "agitators" protesting the war between Israel and Hamas.
A federal judge has blocked the Trump administration's attempt to deport Khalil, and has scheduled a hearing for Wednesday after Khalil's attorney filed a petition challenging his arrest.
Tuesday afternoon, a group of nearly 100 University of Chicago students and professors stood on campus, letting their voices be heard, some holding signs calling for Khalil to be released. Campus police watched from a distance.
The protesters later marched to the Quadrangle Club, at 1155 E. 57th St. just east of the Main Quad, where they believed the UChicago President Paul Alivisatos and Provost Katherine Baicker were having a meeting.
"We're here to say that the detention and the attempt to strip legal status from students just for protesting against genocide is completely unacceptable; and is the product of a fascist government participating with an autocratic university to try to crush dissent and try to crush the voices of students, who are simply saying we don't want our tuition and we don't want our tax dollars to go to fund a genocide," graduate student Anwar Omeish said.
Students and professors said Khalil's arrest is frightening, calling it an attempt to shut down free speech.
