Protesters took over a portion of New York City’s iconic Trump Tower on Thursday to demand freedom for Mahmoud Khalil, a leader of pro-Hamas and anti-Semitic protests at Columbia University last year.
Khalil was arrested Saturday in New York City by federal immigration officials who are seeking to deport him.
On Thursday, a group of about 100 people belonging to the pro-Palestinian group Jewish Voice for Peace flooded the area occupied by the Trump Grill restaurant, according to the New York Post.
NOW: NYPD is warning protesters to leave the building or face arrest. The large group continues to occupy Trump Tower. pic.twitter.com/Z1mX5x2CQD
— Oliya Scootercaster 🛴 (@ScooterCasterNY) March 13, 2025
“You are occupying these premises unlawfully and without permission,” an NYPD officer warned after arriving on the scene. “I am ordering you to leave these premises now.”
NYPD moved in at about 12:30 p.m. and in about 30 minutes cleared the scene of protests.
Protesters toted signs demanding, “Fight Nazis not students,” “No Muslim Ban Ever,” and “Jews for Palestinian Freedom.” Some chanted, “Free Mahmoud.”
NOW: Numerous arrests are being made at Trump Tower as Pro-Palestine protesters refuse to leave the atrium. pic.twitter.com/KmFB5SDNR9
— Oliya Scootercaster 🛴 (@ScooterCasterNY) March 13, 2025
Khalil is in an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facility in Louisiana. Although his green card was revoked, U.S. District Court Judge Jesse Furman has blocked deporting Khalil until a hearing takes place, according to CNN.
Department of Justice attorneys said they plan to move hearings on Khalil to either New Jersey, where he was arrested, or Louisiana.
NYC: Police CARRY one protester up the escalator at Trump Tower as they clear the lobby of the group, Jewish Voices for Peace, who occupied the building lobby chanting “Free Mahmoud Khalil” pic.twitter.com/WUbDzgnPfw
— Oliya Scootercaster 🛴 (@ScooterCasterNY) March 13, 2025
On Tuesday, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Khalil organized “group protests that not only disrupted college campus classes and harassed Jewish-American students and made them feel unsafe on their own college campus, but also distributed pro-Hamas propaganda, flyers with the logo of Hamas.”
On Monday, President Donald Trump wrote that Khalil got what he deserved by being arrested.
“Following my previously signed Executive Orders, ICE proudly apprehended and detained Mahmoud Khalil, a Radical Foreign Pro-Hamas Student on the campus of Columbia University,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social.
“This is the first arrest of many to come. We know there are more students at Columbia and other Universities across the Country who have engaged in pro-terrorist, anti-Semitic, anti-American activity, and the Trump Administration will not tolerate it,” he wrote.
“Many are not students, they are paid agitators. We will find, apprehend, and deport these terrorist sympathizers from our country — never to return again. If you support terrorism, including the slaughtering of innocent men, women, and children, your presence is contrary to our national and foreign policy interests, and you are not welcome here.”
During a visit Wednesday to Albany, border czar Tom Homan said Khalil is a “national security threat,” according to the Gothamist.
“Coming to this country either on a visa or becoming a resident alien here is a great privilege, but there are rules associated with that,” Homan said. “You might even be able to get away with that stuff in the last administration, but you won’t in this administration.”
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