Trump Labels Pro-Palestinian Campus Protester’s Arrest as ‘First of Many to Come’

Sajid Raza March 13, 2025

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Members of the Columbia University Apartheid Divest group, including Sueda Polat, second from left, and Mahmoud Khalil, (C), are surrounded by members of the media outside the Columbia University campus. (File/AP)

In a statement made on Monday, former U.S. President Donald Trump announced that the recent detention of a prominent pro-Palestinian protester from Columbia University in New York marks “the first arrest of many to come.” The protester, Mahmoud Khalil, was arrested over the weekend by immigration authorities.

Trump emphasized that there are other students across the country who have participated in “pro-terrorist, anti-Semitic, anti-American” activities, vowing that the Trump administration would not tolerate such behavior. He further suggested that other protesters, some of whom he accused without evidence of being “paid agitators,” would face similar consequences.

Khalil, a graduate of Columbia, was one of the key figures in the university’s protest movement last year, which opposed Israel’s actions in Gaza. At the time of his arrest, he held a permanent residency green card, according to the Student Workers of Columbia union.

The Department of Homeland Security stated that the arrest was made “in support of President Trump’s executive orders prohibiting anti-Semitism” and in coordination with the Department of State.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has condemned the arrest, calling it “unprecedented, illegal, and un-American,” while asserting that the government’s actions were intended to intimidate and suppress free speech.

The United Nations also voiced concern, with a spokesperson for Secretary-General Antonio Guterres stressing the importance of protecting the right to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly.

Protests on U.S. campuses, including Columbia, have intensified following the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack, with many students rallying against Israel’s conduct in Gaza. These protests have sparked accusations of anti-Semitism and, in some cases, led to violent clashes and disruptions on campus.