The administration under President Donald Trump has detained a second student protester and imposed a deadline on Columbia University, one of the most esteemed institutions in the United States, to relinquish control of one of its academic departments.
In a press release issued on Friday, the Department of Homeland Security accused Leqaa Kordia, a Palestinian student at Columbia, of exceeding the duration of her F-1 student visa.
The release elaborated that agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) apprehended her for deportation. Another international student, Ranjani Srinivasan from India, had her student visa canceled for participating “in activities supporting Hammas,” a misspelling of the Palestinian militant organization Hamas.
The Trump administration has consistently blurred the lines between participating in protests against Israel’s actions in Gaza and endorsing Hamas. Additionally, it has characterized demonstrators as supporters of “terrorists.”
Kordia’s detainment is the second instance in under a week in which a Palestinian student at Columbia University has been taken into ICE custody for deportation. On Saturday, protest spokesperson Mahmoud Khalil was also arrested and subsequently placed in immigration detention, first in New Jersey and then transferred to Louisiana.
Advocates for civil liberties argue that these arrests aim to suppress free speech rights, and Khalil’s lawyer claimed this week that he has been unable to communicate privately with his client, violating his right to legal representation.
Khalil is a permanent resident of the United States, holding a green card, and his American spouse is eight months pregnant. Nonetheless, the Trump administration is reportedly seeking to revoke his green card.
“Receiving a visa to live and study in the United States is a privilege. When one advocates for violence and terrorism, that privilege should be withdrawn, and such individuals should not remain in this country,” stated Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem in the press release.
However, the detentions and revocation of student visas were not the only aggressive measures taken by the Trump administration against Columbia in the past 24 hours.
In a letter dispatched late Thursday, the administration demanded Columbia’s Department of Middle Eastern, South Asian and African Studies (MESAAS) be placed under an “academic receivership,” which involves an external authority assuming control, typically as a punitive measure for mismanagement.
The letter mandated that the university devise a plan to establish the academic receivership by March 20.
Noncompliance, the letter warned, could adversely impact “Columbia University’s ongoing financial relationship with the United States government.”
Implementing a receivership was merely one among a series of demands, which included dissolving the university’s judicial board for handling disciplinary matters, prohibiting masks on campus, and adopting a contentious definition of anti-Semitism that some fear could restrict valid criticisms of Israel.
Columbia University is a private institution, one of the eight campuses comprising the renowned Ivy League in the northeastern United States.
However, Trump and other Republicans have consistently targeted the university since it became a focal point for pro-Palestinian demonstrations in 2023 and 2024, as students protested against the devastation caused by Israel’s military operations, which United Nations experts have likened to genocide.
How did we arrive at this point?
The protests reached a climax last April, following a contentious hearing on Capitol Hill. The then-university president, Minouche Shafik, testified before a congressional panel that scrutinized allegations of Columbia and other universities failing to address anti-Semitism on campus.
The very next day, Shafik authorized the New York City police to clear out a tent encampment set up by student protesters on Columbia’s East Lawn, resulting in widespread arrests.
Tensions escalated from that point onward. Student activists contended that their free speech rights were being infringed upon, arguing that officials were conflating critiques of Israel’s military actions with anti-Semitism. Some occupied Hamilton Hall to demonstrate resistance against efforts to dismantle their protest movement.
The events at Columbia triggered similar actions across the nation, with law enforcement summoned to campuses to detain peaceful demonstrators. It is estimated that over 3,000 protesters were arrested between April and July.
Trump made it a campaign promise to seek out and deport international students who engaged in protests.
His allies even codified threats into the Republican Party platform last year, making one of their commitments a pledge to “deport pro-Hamas radicals and restore safety and patriotism to our college campuses.”
Upon commencing his second term on January 20, Trump promptly issued an executive order demanding the expulsion of foreigners who display “hostile attitudes” towards US “citizens, culture, government, institutions, or founding principles” or who endorse “threats to our national security.”
The United States has been a longstanding ally of Israel and has supported its military campaign in Gaza, which has resulted in the deaths of at least 48,524 Palestinians.
In the months following his re-election, Trump instructed the Justice Department to “investigate and penalize anti-Jewish racism in leftist, anti-American colleges and universities.”
Moreover, on social media this month, he threatened heavy-handed repercussions against any campus that hosts what he terms “illegal protests,” although he has yet to clarify what falls under that category.
“All Federal Funding will STOP for any College, School, or University that permits illegal protests,” Trump declared. “Agitators will be imprisoned or permanently deported to their country of origin. American students will be permanently expelled or, depending on the offense, arrested.”
On March 7, the Trump administration announced the immediate termination of $400 million in federal grants and contracts to Columbia University, seen as a warning to all institutions of higher education to adhere to the president’s demands.
Secretary of Education Linda McMahon cited a surge in reported acts of anti-Semitism following Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel in October 2023 as justification for the funding cuts.
“Since October 7, Jewish students have faced relentless violence, intimidation, and anti-Semitic harassment on their campuses — only to be neglected by those expected to safeguard them,” McMahon stated in a related news release.
“Universities are obligated to comply with all federal anti-discrimination laws if they wish to receive federal funding.”
According to the Department of Education, Columbia presently receives around $5 billion in federal grants and contracts. Earlier this week, the university initiated the process to expel or suspend students involved in the antiwar protests.
Backlash Against Trump’s Initiatives
Nonetheless, some activists have questioned whether the Trump administration sincerely intends to combat hate crimes or if anti-Semitism is being utilized as a cover for other political agendas.
On Thursday, activists from Jewish Voice for Peace and other organizations gathered at Trump Tower in New York City to protest Khalil’s detainment, donning red T-shirts featuring the slogan “Not in our name.”
As reports surfaced of Homeland Security officials searching dormitories at Columbia University, critics expressed concerns about potential violations of students’ civil rights.
“We believe that if you are present here, you shouldn’t be arrested, forcibly taken away, and deported for participating in protests that your classmates were entirely justified in engaging in,” Greg Lukianoff, CEO of the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), remarked on social media on Friday.
The Trump administration has cited a rarely invoked section of the Immigration and Nationality Act as the basis for the planned deportations.
This provision grants the secretary of state authority to exclude “under certain circumstances” foreign nationals whose entry into the US “would have potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States.”
However, legal experts and advocates have pointed out that the Supreme Court has consistently upheld the constitutional rights to free speech for immigrants in the United States.
“What transpired with Mahmoud is nothing less than extraordinary, shocking, and outrageous,” Khalil’s attorney, Ramzi Kassem, said in a statement with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). “It should provoke outrage in anyone who believes in the principle of free speech in the United States of America.”
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