Demonstrators have flooded the lobby of Trump Tower in New York City, in a show of solidarity with student protest leader Mahmoud Khalil, a permanent resident of the United States.
Thursday’s protest is the latest in a string of demonstrations after immigration authorities arrested Khalil on Saturday evening.
The administration of President Donald Trump has said it intends to deport Khalil, who is Palestinian and married to a US citizen, over his role in pro-Palestine protests at Columbia University.
Khalil’s lawyers and supporters, however, believe the Trump administration is wilfully conflating criticism of Israel’s war in Gaza with support for “terrorism”. The arrest has been roundly condemned by civil liberty groups, who have called Khalil a “political prisoner”.
The leaders of Thursday’s demonstration said they chose Trump Tower to send a message to the president. The high-rise houses both the Trump Organization and Trump’s personal New York residence.
“As Jews, we are taking over the Trump Tower to register our mass refusal,” Jewish Voice for Peace, which organised the protest, wrote in a post on the social media platform X.
“We will not stand by as this fascist regime attempts to criminalise Palestinians and all those calling for an end to the Israeli government’s US-funded genocide of the Palestinian people. And we will never stop fighting for a free Palestine.”
Among the protesters was actress Deborah Winger, who told The Associated Press news agency she was “standing up for my rights”.
“I’m standing up for Mahmoud Khalil, who has been abducted illegally and taken to an undisclosed location,” she added. “Does that sound like America to you?”
Reporting from New York, Al Jazeera’s Kristen Saloomey said there were several “dramatic moments” as police arrested 98 of the protesters while clearing the lobby.
“The demonstrators basically went in nonchalantly, dressed as normal tourists,” Saloomey said. “Then they took off their jackets, wearing red T-shirts that represented their cause. On behalf of Mahmoud Khalil, they said, ‘Not in our name’.”
“Ninety-eight of them who were dragged out in handcuffs are being processed and charged with misdemeanour crimes.”
Detention continues
While a federal judge has blocked Khalil from being removed from the US, pending a legal challenge, he remains in detention in Louisiana.
His lawyers have requested he be moved to New York for the proceedings and to be closer to his wife, who is eight months pregnant.
Speaking during a court hearing yesterday, Khalil’s lawyer Ramzi Kassem said he was “identified, targeted, detained and is being processed for deportation on account of his advocacy for Palestinian rights”.
For its part, the Trump administration has remained defiant in its efforts to expel Khalil.
White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt has told reporters Khalil was subject to removal under a law that allows for the deportation of green-card holders deemed by the US secretary of state to be “adversarial to the foreign policy and national security interests” of the country.
She repeated the claim that Khalil supported “terrorists”, without offering any evidence.
Trump, meanwhile, has said Khalil’s arrest is the “first of many to come”.
In a separate court proceeding on Thursday, eight Columbia students – including Khalil – were named as plaintiffs in a petition seeking to bar the university from complying with an order to share student disciplinary records with the government.
The House Committee on Education and Labor has sought records for students involved in pro-Palestine protests, as part of its attempts to crack down on anti-Semitism on campus.
The students said the congressional committee’s request violated the First Amendment and their privacy rights under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, a US law that governs how universities handle student information.
“Entities like the university feel pressure to cooperate with the government in its efforts to chill and punish protected speech,” the lawsuit stated.