Judge to consider Trump's effort to deport Palestinian activist
Lawyers for a Palestinian student activist who the Trump administration attempted to deport will argue against that effort at a Manhattan courtroom hearing on Wednesday.
Mahmoud Khalil, a US permanent resident and Columbia University graduate, was a participant in last year's protests at the campus over the war in Gaza and US support for Israel.
President Donald Trump said Mr Khalil's arrest was the first of "many to come", pledging to crack down on college protesters who he accuses of sympathising with Hamas.
Mr Khalil is a green card holder and is married to an American citizen. Earlier this week, a federal judge blocked Trump's attempt to deport him.
US civil rights advocates, lawmakers and some Jewish groups have said that deporting Mr Khalil would be in violation of American due process rights and an attack on free speech.
But when speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio claimed that the US could deport visa and green card holders for "virtually any reason".
Mr Khalil's wife, who has not been named, detailed her husband's arrest in a statement released by their lawyers on Tuesday. She said that the pair were confronted by immigration agents on Saturday when they returned to their apartment from a dinner.
She said the officials did not provide a warrant or a reason for arrest and ended a call to the couple's lawyers. They then handcuffed Mr Khalil and forced him into an unmarked car.
"Watching this play out in front of me was traumatizing: It felt like a scene from a movie I never signed up to watch," the woman's statement said.
Mr Khalil - who was born in Syria to Palestinian refugees - has been in immigration detention since his arrest. He was initially placed in a New Jersey immigration facility before authorities transferred him to a detention centre in Jena, Louisiana, according to records from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
"US immigration ripped my soul from me when they handcuffed my husband and forced him into an unmarked vehicle. Instead of putting together our nursery and washing baby clothes in anticipation of our first child, I am left sitting in our apartment, wondering when Mahmoud will get a chance to call me from a detention center," Mr Khalil's wife said.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has said the arrest was part of its effort to fulfil Trump's executive order that prohibits antisemitism.
It accused Mr Khalil of leading "activities aligned to Hamas" - the Islamist group based in Gaza that the US has designated a terrorist organisation - but provided no details.
The BBC has asked the agency for further information on the allegations.
Mr Khalil has long maintained that he simply acted as a spokesperson and mediator for the Columbia student protesters.
Critics have accused him of leading Columbia University Apartheid Divest (Cuad) - a student group that demanded the school divest from Israel and called for a ceasefire in Gaza - which the Palestinian activist has denied.
Columbia was just one college campus that played host to mass student protests after the war erupted in Gaza. Some are now concerned that the Trump administration is attempting to silence potential detractors by targeting protesters who are not US citizens.
More than 2.4 million people have signed a letter to demand Mr Khalil's "immediate release," according to a petition on Action Network.
But critics of Mr Khalil and some students protesting over the war in Gaza have in recent weeks reportedly advocated for the deportation of Mr Khalil and other protesters.
Trump appeared to respond to these calls when he posted on social media on Monday about Mr Khalil's detainment.
"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… We will find, apprehend, and deport these terrorist sympathizers from our country - never to return again," the president wrote.
Mr Khalil's wife said that her husband had faced online attacks prior to his arrest that "were simply not based on reality". She said the Palestinian advocate had grown "concerned about his safety" and turned to Columbia University for legal support.
"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," Mr Khalil said in his email, according to his wife's statement.