Demonstrators from a Jewish group filled the lobby of Trump Tower in New York City on Thursday in protest of the arrest of Colombia University graduate Mahmoud Khalil.
In videos circulating social media, a sea of red shirts captured protestors from Jewish Voice for Peace chanting “Free Mahmoud.”
“Fight Nazis, not students,” one sign read, as another protester carried a sign reading “Jews for Palestinian freedom.” They also wore shirts reading “Jews Say Stop Arming Israel” and “Not in Our Name.”
Soon after, the New York City Police Department arrested 98 people. The protestors were often zip-tied and led out of the lobby and onto police vehicles.
Khalil, a permanent legal resident who is married to a U.S. citizen and expecting a child, was arrested Saturday for his involvement in pro-Palestinian protests. He now faces possible deportation, though a judge has stopped him from being deported while the court weighs the legality of his arrest.
President Donald Trump has painted Khalil as a terrorist sympathizer and has promised that there are “many” more arrests to come.
In a Tuesday briefing, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt supported these claims, saying the graduate student helped organize protests that “harassed Jewish-American students” while also distributing “pro-Hamas propaganda.”
Khalil is being held in the Central Louisiana ICE Processing Center in Jena, Louisiana, where he will remain following a procedural hearing in New York. The for-profit detention facility has a track record of sexual assault and abuse toward its inmates.
In a Tuesday press conference hosted by ReThink Media, Abed Ayoub, national executive director of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, explained that Khalil’s relocation was an intentional move to make it more difficult for lawyers to work with him.
“They are usually taken to remote areas where it is hard to get an attorney,” Ayoub said.
Speaking to CNN, Ramzi Kassem, an attorney for Khalil, said Wednesday, “We literally have not been able to confer with our client once since he was taken off the streets of New York City.”
Continuing outside of the courthouse following Khalil’s procedural hearing, Kassem added, “He was taken by US government agents in retaliation, essentially, for exercising his First Amendment rights, for speaking up in defense of Palestinians in Gaza and beyond, for being critical of the US government and of the Israeli government.”
However, a judge ordered Wednesday that Khalil’s attorneys be allowed a Wednesday and Thursday phone call with Khalil as they prepare to meet deadlines.
Thursday’s protests outside of Trump Tower come a day after the president made controversial remarks about Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.
Seemingly unprovoked, Trump said to reporters, “Schumer is a Palestinian, as far as I’m concerned. You know, he’s become a Palestinian. He used to be Jewish. He’s not Jewish anymore. He’s a Palestinian.”
It’s unclear why the president chose this topic, but Trump is extremely clear on where he lies when it comes to the Israel-Hamas war’s effect on the Gaza Strip.
But as the world looks toward Khalil’s case, many other asylum-seekers, visa holders, and permanent residents who have religious views or come from certain countries are concerned about their future.
Not long after taking office this year, Trump signed an executive order that mimicked his first term’s travel ban. Many are expecting the ban to take effect in the coming days.
This time, however, the ban isn’t just expected to target just Muslim-majority countries. The executive order also gave power to revoke visas and permanent residency of those who hold ideological views that the White House may disapprove of.
Unrest and anger at the Trump administration have been growing, leading to protests across the country for many reasons, including those frustrated over massive federal layoffs, co-President Elon Musk, mass deportations, and more.
