Demonstrators 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.
The protest on Thursday is the latest in a series of demonstrations following the arrest of Khalil by immigration authorities on Saturday evening.
The administration of President Donald Trump has stated its intention to deport Khalil, a Palestinian married to a U.S. citizen, citing his involvement in pro-Palestine protests at Columbia University.
Khalil’s lawyers and supporters believe the Trump administration is deliberately conflating criticism of Israel’s war in Gaza with support for “terrorism.” The arrest has been widely condemned by civil liberty groups, who have labeled Khalil a “political prisoner.”
The organizers of Thursday’s protest chose Trump Tower as the venue to send a message to the president. The building houses both the Trump Organization and the president’s personal residence in New York.
“As Jews, we are taking over Trump Tower to register our mass refusal,” Jewish Voice for Peace, the group that organized the protest, wrote in a post on the social media platform X. “We will not stand by as this fascist regime attempts to criminalize Palestinians and all those calling for an end to the Israeli government’s U.S.-funded genocide of the Palestinian people. And we will never stop fighting for a free Palestine.”
Actress Debra Winger was among the protesters. She told The Associated Press, “I’m standing up for my rights. I’m standing up for Mahmoud Khalil, who has been abducted illegally and taken to an undisclosed location. Does that sound like America to you?”
Reporting from New York, Al Jazeera’s Kristen Saloomey described several “dramatic moments” as police arrested 98 protesters while clearing the lobby. “The demonstrators entered casually, dressed like normal tourists,” Saloomey said. “Then they removed their jackets to reveal red T-shirts representing their cause. On behalf of Mahmoud Khalil, they declared, ‘Not in our name.'”
“Ninety-eight of those dragged out in handcuffs are being processed and charged with misdemeanor crimes,” she added.
Detention Continues
While a federal judge has temporarily blocked Khalil’s deportation pending a legal challenge, he remains detained in Louisiana. His lawyers have requested he be transferred to New York for the proceedings and to be closer to his wife, who is eight months pregnant.
During a court hearing, Khalil’s lawyer, Ramzi Kassem, argued that his client was “identified, targeted, detained, and is being processed for deportation on account of his advocacy for Palestinian rights.”
The Trump administration has remained steadfast in its efforts to deport Khalil. White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt told reporters that Khalil is subject to removal under a law allowing the deportation of green-card holders deemed by the U.S. secretary of state to be “adversarial to the foreign policy and national security interests” of the country. She reiterated the claim that Khalil supports “terrorists” but provided no evidence.
Meanwhile, Trump has declared that 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 prevent the university from complying with a government order to share student disciplinary records. The House Committee on Education and Labor has requested these records as part of its efforts to clamp down on anti-Semitism on campus.
The students argue that the congressional committee’s request violates their First Amendment rights and their privacy under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), a U.S. law governing 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.
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