13 arrested as protesters demand release of pro-Palestinian activist, Columbia grad detained by ICE
Protesters were arrested in Lower Manhattan after they tried entering City Hall Park
NEW YORK -- Police arrested more than a dozen demonstrators amid more protests Tuesday calling for the release of Mahmoud Khalil after he was detained by federal agents over the weekend.
A few hundred protesters gathered near NYU on Tuesday afternoon, marching through Lower Manhattan from Washington Square before ending outside of City Hall Park.
Police say 13 people were taken into custody when demonstrators clashed with police as they spilled into Broadway and blocked traffic.
A protest was also held at Columbia's campus denouncing ICE's detention of Khalil.
The pro-Palestinian activist who helped organize rallies at Columbia University last year when he was a student has a green card and is a legal U.S. permanent resident. However, federal officials say he expressed support of the terrorist group Hamas during the protest and is now scheduled to be deported.
Khalil was arrested Saturday by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. Homeland Security officials and President Donald Trump have indicated that the arrest was directly tied to his role in the protests last spring at Columbia University in New York City.
Khalil is being held at an immigration detention center in Jena, Louisiana, while he awaits immigration court proceedings that could eventually lead to him being deported.
According to a statement released by his wife, a day before he was arrested, Khalil "begged" Columbia University for legal support out of fear that ICE or dangerous individuals would target him.
Khalil allegedly sent an email to the university urging them to intervene, his wife says.
"I haven't been able to sleep, fearing that ICE or a dangerous individual might come to my home. I urgently need legal support and I urge you to intervene," he reportedly said in his email.
His wife claims the university never responded.
ABC News has reached out to Columbia for comment and has not independently reviewed the reported emails.
His wife, who is eight-months-pregnant, says a "doxxing" campaign began targeting her husband about six days ago and anti-Palestinian groups were also spreading "false claims" about him.
His wife recounted the moment she was also threatened with arrest when she refused to leave her husband with the agents. She claims that they were never shown a warrant.
"I was born and raised in the Midwest. My parents came here from Syria, carrying their stories of the oppressive regime there that made life unlivable. They believed living in the US would bring a sense of safety and stability. But here I am, 40 years after my parents immigrated here, and just weeks before I'm due to give birth to our first child, and I feel more unsafe and unstable than I have in my entire life," she said.
His arrest has drawn criticism that he's being unfairly and unlawfully targeted for his activism while the federal government has essentially described him as a terrorist sympathizer.
Many Jewish students and faculty at Columbia say they have felt threatened by the protests he helped to organize and the takeover of campus buildings.
Some argued that Trump's crackdown could have been avoided had Columbia done more to protect Jewish students.
"We've had fliers tossed around glorifying October 7th, fliers that glorified Nasrallah, the head of Hezbollah designate terrorist organization," student Sam Nahins said. "I don't know whether the administration is just going on a witch hunt or any kind of hunt on Columbia specifically, but there are students who are reporting other students to ICE because there's been a lack of action on Columbia's part."
Khalil has not been charged with a crime and immigration experts say his arrest is a huge overstep by the government and reeks of authoritarianism.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul questioned Khalil's arrest and the withholding of $400 million in funding to Columbia that could be used for important work.
"Now we're going to have less research in cancer, we're going to not fund the people that might be solving problems that are going to affect our own families, so I reject this approach that is so punitive, so widespread," Hochul said.
Mayor Eric Adams on Tuesday declined to criticize the Trump administration for detaining Khalil, saying the federal government handles deportations and he will hold his judgment during the investigation.
"I cannot say this enough, ICE handles who is deported and not deported," Adams said. "We don't know the full scope of this investigation and as a former law enforcement person, I know there are parts of this investigation that are beyond our understanding. Let the process take its course, the federal government is in charge of deportation and they should be, I believe that."
According to a joint letter filed in court Tuesday evening and obtained by ABC News, the government and Khalil's attorneys conferred but were unable to agree on how to proceed. Khalil's side asked the court to first decide their pending motion to compel the government to return him to New York, while the government indicated it intends to move to dismiss or transfer the case for improper venue and is asking the court to address that first.
A hearing is set for Wednesday to determine whether Khalil could be deported. In the meantime, a judge has put a temporary restraint on any sort of deportation.
(The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
RELATED | Judge blocks deportation of Columbia activist detained by ICE
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