Democrats have a new cause celebre in their fight against the Trump administration: anti-Israel campus activist Mahmoud Khalil.
A growing number of House and Senate Democrats have rallied around the Syrian-born Columbia University agitator since the Trump administration moved to deport him last weekend over what the White House described as his “pro-Hamas” activism.
“The Trump Administration’s treatment of Mahmoud Khalil is inhumane and unconstitutional,” said Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, New York Democrat, who led a Tuesday letter signed by 27 New York officials to the Department of Homeland Security calling for his immediate release.
A hearing Wednesday before a federal judge ended with Mr. Khalil remaining for now in detention in Jena, Louisiana, where he was transferred after being arrested Saturday by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in New York City.
U.S. District Judge Jesse Furman asked attorneys for Mr. Khalil and the Justice Department to submit a schedule for argument by Friday on the arrest and detention. The judge previously blocked the government from deporting Mr. Khalil pending the outcome of his habeas corpus petition.
“What happened to Mahmoud Khalil is nothing short of extraordinary and shocking and outrageous,” Kahlil attorney Ramzi Kassem said outside the Manhattan courthouse, where hundreds of supporters chanted and waved Palestinian flags.
He said Mr. Khalil, a Palestinian and legal U.S. resident who holds a green card, was taken into custody “in retaliation essentially for exercising his First Amendment rights, for speaking up in defense of Palestinians in Gaza and beyond, for being critical of the U.S. government and of the Israeli government.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio emphasized Wednesday that applicants for visas to enter the country would be denied if they were to express on their applications support for Hamas, a U.S. designated terrorist organization.
He said non-citizens already residing in the country may have their visas or green cards revoked if they engage in antisemitic protest activity or foment chaos at U.S. universities, as Mr. Khalil is accused of doing last year as a leader of Columbia’s “Gaza Solidarity Encampment.”
“Coming to the United States on a visa is a privilege, not a right,” Mr. Rubio said Wednesday on social media. “The Trump Administration is determined to deny or revoke your visa if you’re here to support terrorists.”
Coming to the United States on a visa is a privilege, not a right. The Trump Administration is determined to deny or revoke your visa if you’re here to support terrorists. https://t.co/bhDvHCluON
— Secretary Marco Rubio (@SecRubio) March 12, 2025
Even so, Democrats argued that the Trump administration is targeting its political foes for persecution.
Fourteen House Democrats fired off a letter to DHS Secretary Kristi Noem blasting Mr. Khalil’s detention as an “act of anti-Palestinian racism.”
Sen. Chris Murphy, Connecticut Democrat, accused federal agents of “disappearing” Mr. Khalil by arresting him in New York and moving him to the Louisiana facility.
“You can disagree with his views of his politics, but there is no evidence he has broken any law,” said Mr. Murphy in a video.
Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee posted a photo of Mr. Khalil, who graduated in December with a master’s degree from Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs, with the caption: “Free Mahmoud Khalil.”
“Just to recap: Mahmoud Khalil exercises his First Amendment rights,” the Senate Judiciary Democrats account said in a post on Bluesky. “But, Donald Trump and Marco Rubio didn’t agree with what he said.”
Republicans countered by pointing to anti-American statements by Columbia University Apartheid Divest, including its Instagram post describing the group as “Westerners fighting for the total eradication of Western Civilization.”
Mr. Khalil served as lead negotiator for the group, which is not recognized by Columbia, during the encampment protest.
“Even beyond his anti-semitism and disruption on campus, this 31-year old student’s group wants to ‘eradicate Western civilization,’” Sen. Tom Cotton, Arkansas Republican, said on social media. “This is who the Senate Democrats are championing.”
Mr. Khalil’s wife, a U.S. citizen who is eight months pregnant, said in a statement: “My husband was kidnapped from our home.”
“It’s shameful that the United States government continues to hold him because he stood for the rights and lives of his people,” she said. “I demand his immediate release and return to our family.”
Her statement was read at the courthouse rally by an attorney with the Creating Law Enforcement Accountability and Responsibility project.
