We must treat attacks on our communities as an effort to silence every voice of dissent, because those are the stakes.

A DHS official defended Khalil’s detention in an interview on Thursday but did not provide additional details for his arrest.

Whatever legal rationale the Trump Administration cooks up, deporting protesters for things they say is wildly un-American—and possibly unpopular, too.

Nearly 100 people were arrested after protesters gathered at Trump Tower in Manhattan Thursday to denounce the arrest of Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian activist detained by ICE over his involvement with pro-Palestinian demonstrations at Columbia University.

Trying to deport Khalil for demonstrating against Israel is an obvious violation of his rights and an attempt to intimidate others, they say.

Some protesters held signs that read "Fight Nazis not students," "Free Mahmoud free Palestine" and "You can’t deport a movement."

I was a student at Columbia University, where I covered tense campus protests over the Israel-Hamas war for the college newspaper and for POLITICO. So I’m familiar with Mahmoud Khalil, a former Columbia student who I’ve chatted with in the past and appears to be the first target of the Trump administration’s effort to crack down on student protesters.

Noor Abdalla, wife of detained Palestinian Columbia University student Mahmoud Khalil, says she thought her husband didn't have to worry about ICE.