Who is Mahmoud Khalil, Palestinian student activist facing US deportation?

Mahmoud Khalil, a prominent figure during the Gaza war protests at Columbia University in the spring of 2024, has drawn global attention after the Trump administration arrested and moved to deport him.
The case has raised questions about free speech on college campuses and the legal process that would allow for the deportation of a US permanent resident.
Mr Khalil will remain in detention in Louisiana following a court hearing on Wednesday, where lawyers argued over whether he should be moved back to New York.
Born in Syria, the Columbia graduate’s arrest by immigration agents was linked to President Donald Trump’s promise to crack down on student demonstrators he accuses of “un-American activity”.
Trump has repeatedly alleged that pro-Palestinian activists, including Mr Khalil, support Hamas, a group designated a terrorist organisation by the US. The president argues these protesters should be deported and called Mr Khalil’s arrest “the first of many to come”.
The 30-year-old’s lawyers say he was exercising free speech rights to demonstrate in support of Palestinians in Gaza and against US support for Israel. They accused the government of “open repression of student activism and political speech”.
Khalil’s work for UK in Middle East
Born in Syria to Palestinian refugees, Mr Khalil earned a degree in computer science from the Lebanese American University before working with the Syrian-American non-profit Jusoor. More recently, he managed the Syria Chevening Programme for the British Embassy in Beirut, offering scholarships for study in the UK, according to his biography on the Society for International Development website.
The UK Foreign Office said Mr Khalil stopped work there more than two years ago.
Mr Khalil moved to the US in 2022, where he earned a master’s degree at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs. He has since married an American woman, who is eight months pregnant, and initially faced arrest threats herself, according to his lawyer.
His role in the student protests
Detained activist Khalil sues to bar Columbia from sharing disciplinary records
.By: Luc Cohen
Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil was arrested on Saturday
Government cites provision of 1952 law in his detention
Students say Congress aims to violate speech, privacy rights
NEW YORK, March 13 (Reuters) –
Detained pro-Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil asked a federal court on Thursday to block Columbia University from sharing student disciplinary records from campus protests with a Republican-led U.S. House of Representatives committee.
Separately, Khalil’s lawyers have asked a federal judge to release him from immigration detention in Louisiana, arguing that Republican President Donald Trump’s administration targeted him for arrest and deportation because of his advocacy in violation of the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment protections for freedom of speech. Khalil, who has lawful permanent resident status in the United States, was arrested last Saturday in New York City… Source: reuters.com/