President Donald Trump said Monday on Truth Social that the arrest of Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia University graduate student who organized protests at the school against Israel, will be the first of many.
"Following my previously signed Executive Orders, ICE proudly apprehended and detained Mahmoud Khalil, a Radical Foreign Pro-Hamas Student on the campus of Columbia University. This is the first arrest of many to come," Trump wrote. "We know there are more students at Columbia and other Universities across the Country who have engaged in pro-terrorist, anti-Semitic, anti-American activity, and the Trump Administration will not tolerate it. Many are not students, they are paid agitators.
"We will find, apprehend, and deport these terrorist sympathizers from our country — never to return again. 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."
Federal immigration authorities arrested Khalil, a Palestinian, as his university-owned apartment Saturday with plans to revoke his green card.
Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin confirmed Khalil's arrest in a statement Sunday, describing it as being "in support of President Trump's executive orders prohibiting anti-Semitism."
Sam Barron ✉
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