US Palestinian activist arrested, Secretary of State Rubio vows to deport 'Hamas supporters'

A Palestinian activist who is also a permanent resident in the United States has been arrested by U.S. immigration agents for his role in student protests against Israel.

President Donald Trump's administration will be "revoking the visas and/or green cards of Hamas supporters in America so they can be deported," said Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Mar. 10 in a post on X.

We will be revoking the visas and/or green cards of Hamas supporters in America so they can be deported https://t.co/oKba2Mmi3C

— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) March 9, 2025

The Trump administration had previously pledged to detain and deport student activists, claiming that participants of protests against the war in Gaza "forfeited their right to remain in the country by supporting Hamas."

Earlier in January, Trump also signed an executive order to "combat antisemitism".

Palestinian student activist arrested

The first of such deportation efforts happened on Mar. 9 and it involved Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil.

Khalil, who graduated from Columbia University in December 2024, is a prominent figure in protests against Israel on the school campus, reported The Associated Press (AP).

He also served as a negotiator for student protesters with university administrators after the former set up a huge tent encampment on campus in protest against the Gaza war.

His attorney, Amy Greer, told AP that Khalil was inside his university-owned apartment when several Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents entered and took him into custody.

Greer said she spoke with one of the ICE agents over the phone during the arrest; the agent said they were acting on State Department orders to revoke Khalil’s student visa.

When told by Greer that Khalil is a permanent resident with a green card, the agent allegedly said they were revoking that instead.

A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security, Tricia McLaughlin, confirmed Khalil’s arrest in a statement on Sunday:

“On Mar. 9, 2025, in support of President Trump’s executive orders prohibiting antisemitism, and in coordination with the Department of State, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested Mahmoud Khalil, a former Columbia University graduate student.

Khalil led activities aligned to Hamas, a designated terrorist organization.

ICE and the Department of State are committed to enforcing President Trump’s executive orders and to protecting U.S. national security."

Whereabouts unknown

Greer also claimed that ICE agents had threatened to arrest Khalil’s pregnant wife, an American citizen, during the arrest.

Khalil’s current whereabouts are unknown as of the evening of Mar. 9.

Initially informed that he was being held at an immigration detention facility in Elizabeth, New Jersey, his wife learned otherwise when she tried to visit him.

“We have not been able to get any more details about why he is being detained,” Greer told the AP.

“This is a clear escalation. The administration is following through on its threats.”

Donald Trump threatened to defund universities

Just a few days before the arrest, Trump had posted on his social media platform Truth Social, threatening to defund universities that allowed "illegal protests".

He said then that "agitators" would be imprisoned or sent back to "the country from which they came."

On Mar. 7, Trump's administration announced it had cancelled grants and contracts worth about US$400 million to Columbia University over what the administration described as "antisemitic harassment" on and near the school's campus in New York City.

Top photos from Chenyu Guan/Unsplash and thebartlett/Instagram