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Some 80 Jewish faculty members and students from Harvard University have signed a protest letter condemning the recent arrest and pending deportation of Mahmoud Khalil, a former Columbia University student detained by federal immigration authorities for his involvement in pro-Palestinian campus activism.
The signatories accuse the Trump administration of exploiting concerns about antisemitism to suppress free speech and target political dissent on university campuses. They demand that the Harvard administration publicly denounce Khalil’s arrest, withdraw cooperation with federal immigration enforcement, and allocate institutional resources to securing his release.
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Pro-Palestinian demonstration in support of Mahmoud Khalil outside a courthouse in New York on March 12
(Photo: Spencer Platt/Getty Images North America/ AFP)
Khalil, a U.S. green card holder, was apprehended on March 8 as part of a broader crackdown on pro-Palestinian demonstrations on campuses which Trump administration officials have framed as an effort to combat antisemitism. His arrest, however, has ignited widespread controversy, with critics arguing that it represents an assault on academic freedom and immigrant rights.
A federal judge has temporarily halted Khalil’s deportation, citing due process concerns. Meanwhile, protests against his detention are spreading beyond Columbia’s campus, with demonstrations planned in New York and other major cities.
“We are united in denouncing, without equivocation, anyone who invokes our name—and cynical claims of antisemitism—to harass, expel, arrest, or deport members of our campus communities,” the statement reads, urging all universities to reject what it describes as a "dangerous narrative" conflating pro-Palestinian advocacy with antisemitism.
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Mahmoud Khalil, a pro-Palestinian protester and graduate of Columbia University
(Photo: Jeenah Moon/Reuters)
One signatory told the university's student newspaper, The Harvard Crimson, that the Trump administration “has no compassion for actual Jews, either Israeli Jews or American Jews” like himself.
The White House drew further ire among some Jewish communities when it addressed Khalil’s arrest in a social media post that began with the phrase “Shalom, Mahmoud.” President Trump later reinforced his administration’s hardline stance, declaring, “This is the first arrest of many to come.”
Harvard University has remained largely silent on the issue, despite President Alan Garber previously condemning new limits set on federal funding for overhead costs associated with the university's research projects. The university has yet to release a statement addressing Khalil’s detention or Trump’s recent punitive actions against higher education institutions.
Harvard is among 60 universities currently under scrutiny by the Department of Education for alleged failures to combat antisemitism. Education Secretary Linda McMahon issued formal warnings to these institutions, citing concerns over campus protests and alleged discrimination against Jewish students. While some Jewish advocacy groups have applauded the administration’s efforts, others — including liberal Zionist organizations like J Street and Zioness — have expressed alarm at what they view as authoritarian overreach.
“The Trump administration is exploiting real concerns about antisemitism to undercut democracy,” said Amy Spitalnick, CEO of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs. “Any Jew who thinks this is going to start and stop with a few Palestinian activists is fooling themselves.”
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Mahmoud Khalil reads a statement, surrounded by other pro-Palestinian activists
(Photo: Jeenah Moon/Reuters)
Other liberal Jewish organizations, including the Jewish Democratic Council of America, have similarly condemned the arrest of Khalil arrest. Congressman Jerry Nadler, a Jewish Democrat representing Manhattan, characterized the move as “McCarthyesque” and warned that it set a chilling precedent for First Amendment protections.
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Khalil, who is married to a U.S. citizen currently expecting their first child, has been transferred to a detention center in Jena, Louisiana - a facility notorious for reports of detainee mistreatment and civil rights violations. His legal team argues that the arrest is politically motivated and constitutes an abuse of immigration law for the purpose of silencing dissent.
Khalil’s case has become a flashpoint in the broader debate over campus free speech, the role of universities in political discourse, and the extent to which federal immigration laws can be used as a tool for ideological enforcement. With Harvard and dozens of other institutions in the administration’s crosshairs, the outcome of this case could set a precedent with far-reaching implications for academic freedom and student activism in the United States.