by Anjali Kamat | Oct 1, 2026 | Columbia University, Deportations, ICE, immigration jails, Interview, Israel, Mahmoud Khalil, Palestine, Supreme Court, Trump Administration
We speak with Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil about his new memoir, No Land to Stand On: Notes from Detention. It details his 104 days of detention inside a Louisiana ICE jail after he was targeted for arrest and deportation by the Trump administration over his pro-Palestine campus advocacy at Columbia University. Khalil missed the birth of his first child, Deen, while he was separated from…
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by Amy Goodman | Jul 23, 2026 | Columbia University, First Amendment, Freedom of Speech, Habeas, ICE, immigration jails, Interview, Mohsen Mahdawi, Palestine
Palestinian activist Mohsen Mahdawi, whose arrest by masked and hooded ICE agents when he arrived for his naturalization interview to become a U.S. citizen made national headlines last year, is facing a new deportation threat after a three-judge panel overturned a lower court ruling that had freed him from ICE custody. Mahdawi was involved in pro-Palestine protests at Columbia University…
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by Julia Conley | Jul 14, 2026 | Betar, Canary Mission, Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), Columbia University, Heritage Foundation, Mahmoud Khalil, News, Palestine, Trump Administration
A lawsuit filed by former Columbia University student organizer Mahmoud Khalil wasn’t his first legal challenge stemming from his arrest last year for his Palestinian rights advocacy, but he emphasized that his decision to take members of the Trump administration and private pro-Israel organizations to court was “about far more than what was done to” him when he was detained for 104 days.
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by Sharon Zhang | Feb 28, 2026 | Columbia University, Department of Homeland Security, DHS, ICE, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, News
A Columbia University student was reportedly taken by federal immigration agents who lied in order to gain entry into her residence, the university’s president said in a statement on the Thursday morning arrest, which critics have described as an abduction. The detained student has been identified as Ellie Aghayeva, an undergrad majoring in neuroscience and political science.
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by Amy Goodman | Feb 27, 2026 | Columbia, Columbia University, Department of Homeland Security, DHS, Donald Trump, Interview, Mahmoud Khalil, Mohsen Mahdawi, palestine solidarity, Protests, Trump Administration, Zohran Mamdani
Federal agents detained a Columbia University student early Thursday after Department of Homeland Security officers allegedly gained access to a university-owned residence by presenting a fake missing person poster of a 5-year-old. As news broke of the student, Ellie Aghayeva, and her detention, students and community members rallied en masse demanding her release and an end to immigration…
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by Sharon Zhang | Feb 9, 2026 | Columbia University, Department of Homeland Security, Marco Rubio, News, Palestine
The family of detained Palestinian Columbia University activist Leqaa Kordia said on Saturday that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is withholding information on her whereabouts and health after she was rushed to the hospital on Friday. Kordia’s family and legal team have said that ICE officials are refusing to give any information about where she has been hospitalized…
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