President Trump on Monday said the arrest of a Columbia University student who led pro-Palestinian protests would be the first “of many to come.”
Trump on Truth Social touted the arrest by immigration authorities of Mahmoud Khalil, a green card-holder who was at the forefront of protests on the Columbia campus last year over Israel’s war in Gaza.
The president accused those leading similar protests of engaging in “pro-terrorist, anti-Semitic, anti-American activity, and the Trump Administration will not tolerate it.” He also claimed many of those involved were not students, but “paid agitators.”
“We will find, apprehend, and deport these terrorist sympathizers from our country — never to return again,” he posted. “If you support terrorism, including the slaughtering of innocent men, women, and children, your presence is contrary to our national and foreign policy interests, and you are not welcome here. We expect every one of America’s Colleges and Universities to comply.”
Khalil’s arrest over the weekend marked a significant escalation of the Trump administration’s crackdown on dissent on college campuses. Trump had pledged on the campaign trail to target those who were part of anti-Israel protests on college campuses, which at times featured antisemitic rhetoric and drew widespread condemnation.
Khalil’s lawyer in a statement to The New York Times said they would fight the arrest in court.
Trump signed an executive order in late January seeking to fight antisemitism on college campuses and vowing action against “Hamas sympathizers” among student populations. The order directed federal resources toward combating antisemitism on campuses and called for all federal executive agencies to report criminal and civil actions that can be used to fight antisemitism.
Antisemitic incidents spiked on campuses after Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel, which left more than 1,100 Israelis dead. Israel responded by carrying out a military campaign in Gaza that has killed more than 40,000 Palestinians and reduced much of Gaza to rubble.
The war triggered protests that roiled campuses last spring, with more than 2,000 arrests at universities across the country.
