The US Court temporarily blocks the attempt to deport the protest leader, temporarily blocks the protest leader

A federal judge has temporarily blocked the Trump administration’s effort to existing Palestinian activist Mahmud Khalil, who was arrested by immigration agents over the weekends.

Mr. Khalil, a graduate and permanent American resident of Columbia University, played an important role in protest against last year’s Gaza war at the IV League campus in New York City.

The arrest is part of President Donald Trump’s pledge to take action on Palestinian protesters in college premises, which he called “the first arrest of many people”.

The protesters condemned the release of Mr. Khalil in New York City on Monday afternoon and the work of the Trump administration.

A crowd waving the Palestinian flag gathered at the Foli Square in Lower Manhattan, soon after which the US tried to deport Khalil. The protesters later marched towards the city hall towards the south. At least one person was detained.

“We are facing a terrible reality that our own students, a member of the Columbia community, have become a political prisoner in the United States,” Professor Michael Thadius said in a statement.

According to court documents, the judge held a hearing for Wednesday, where Mr. Khalil is expected to appear.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents informed Mr. Khalil that they were canceling their student visas and green cards when they were detained on Saturday, their lawyers said.

The Homeland Security Department (DHS) accused the alumni of “leading activities formed with Hamas”, but did not give any details. The BBC has asked the agency for more information about the allegations.

Trump has earlier stated that foreign students will have to face exile “terrorist sympathetic”. Mr. Khalil is the first known captive under this policy.

His lawyer, Amy Greer, condemned his detention as “terrible and unforgivable”, called it part of “the US government’s student activism and open repression of political speech”.

Mr. Khalil, a Palestinian refugee born in Syria, has not been accused of any crime.

Ice agents detained him in his university -owned Manhattan apartment and initially placed him in a New Jersey immigration facility before transferring him to a detention center in Louisiana, Louisiana, Louisiana.

His lawyer claims that the Ice also threatened to arrest his wife, an American citizen, who is eight months pregnant. When he tried to see him in New Jersey, the authorities told him that he was not there.

The University of Columbia said that the law enforcement could enter the property of the premises with a warrant, but denied that the leaders of the university had invited ice agents.

On Sunday, state secretary Marco Rubio posted on X and confirmed the administration’s stance: “We will cancel the visas and/or green cards of Hamas supporters in the US to deport them.”

The Trump administration announced last week that it was defending $ 400m (£ 310m) to the federal grant to Colombia, alleging that it had failed to fight antisementism in the campus.

The Colombia Pro-P-Filistinian student was previous year’s Upriyndra, who was a nationwide protest against the war in Gaza and nationwide protests against American support for Israel.

Mr. Khalil was the main dialogue for the University of Columbia, when its protesters established a huge tent on the lawn of the university in protest against the Gaza war.

He later told the BBC that he was temporarily suspended by the university, where he was a graduate student at the School of International and Public Affairs.

Donna Liberman, president of the New York Civil Liberty Union, called his exile “an extreme attack on the target vengeance and the first amendment”.

New York Attorney General Latitia James said she was “extremely worried” and monitoring the case.

Some Jewish students from Colombia claim that the protest rhetoric sometimes crossed the line in antismitism, while others have joined the Palestinian demonstrations.

Carley, a Jewish-American graduate student and a friend of Mr. Khalil, told the BBC that the prisoner was a “very, very careful soul” in Colombia.

Carly said, “They have been very targeted online and just seeing how they were presented so incorrectly, it is very painful, because someone who knows him at a personal level,” said Carly, who refused to share his surname for secrecy reasons.

Speaking on Fox News, Trump’s Seema Zar Tom Homan alleged that Mr. Khalil had violated his visa conditions by “closing the buildings and destroying the property”.

The Israeli army launched its campaign against Hamas on 7 October 2023 in response to an unprecedented border attack in Israel, killing around 1,200 people and held 251 hostage.

According to the Health Ministry run by Hamas, more than 48,000 Palestinians have died in Gaza in Israeli military action.

With additional reporting from Nada Tofik