President Donald Trump’s administration arrested a second student protester, set a deadline for Columbia University, one of the most well-known campuses in the United States, and handed over control of one of the academic departments.
In a news release Friday, the Department of Homeland Security accused Colombian Palestinian student Lekaa Kordia of overstaying F-1 student visas.
The statement explained that an Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency (ICE) agent had detained her for deportation. Another foreign student, India’s Ranjani Srinivasan, has revoked her student visa to participate in the “Activities to Support Hammas,” a misspelling of Palestinian armed group Hamas.
The Trump administration has repeatedly confused its participation in Israel’s protests against the war in Gaza in support of Hamas. He also accused demonstrators of supporting “terrorists.”
Cordia’s arrest marks the second time within a week when a Palestinian student at Columbia University gained ice custody for deportation. Protest spokesman Mahmoud Khalil was similarly arrested Saturday, first in New Jersey and later in immigration detention in Louisiana.
Civil liberty advocates say the arrest is intended to curb the right to freedom of speech, and this week, Halil’s lawyers argued that he was unable to contact his client personally in violation of his rights.
Halil is a permanent resident of the United States, has a green card and his American wife is 8 months pregnant. However, the Trump administration says he plans to strip him of his green card.
“It is a privilege to be granted a visa to live and study in the United States,” Homeland Security Secretary Christie Noem said in a news release.
However, arrests and student visa cancellations were not the only powerful actions the Trump administration has made against Columbia in the last 24 hours.
In a letter issued late Thursday night, the administration called for the study of the Middle East, South Asia and Africa (MESAA) to be placed in “academic reception.”
The letter specified that the university must plan to create an academic receivership role by March 20th.
The letter, warning that it had not been followed, warned that it would have a negative impact on “the continued economic relationship between Columbia University and the US government.”
Setting up a recipient was just one of a list of requests, including abolishing the university’s Judiciary Committee for hearing disciplinary matters, banning masks on campus and adopting a controversial definition of anti-Semitism that could limit legitimate criticism in Israel.
Columbia University is a private school and is one of the eight campuses that make up the highly untidy Ivy League in the Northeast region.
But Trump and other Republicans have repeatedly attacked the university since becoming the epicenter of pro-Palestinian protesters in 2023 and 2024.
How did you get here?
The protest peaked after a controversial hearing in Capitol Hill last April. Minush Shafik, then-university president, appeared before a panel in Congress and faced overseer over allegations that Colombia and other schools were unable to deal with anti-Semitism on campus.
The next day, Shaffik allowed New York City Police to enter the camps set up by student protesters in East Lawn, Columbia, leading to massive arrests.
From there, tension escalated. Student protesters argued that their right to free speech had been reduced and that authorities were fused with anti-Semitism in Israel’s criticism of the war. Some occupied the school building’s Hamilton Hall to demonstrate rebellion against attempts to dismantle the protests.
But what happened in Colombia was that police were called to campus to arrest peaceful protesters, and therefore launched a series of similar measures nationwide. It is estimated that more than 3,000 protesters were arrested between April and July.
Trump has run a reelection campaign on a platform that seeks out foreign students who participated in the protest and forces them abroad.
His allies codified the threat to Republican platforms last year, making it one of 20 pledges.
Upon his second term on January 20th, Trump quickly issued an executive order calling for the removal of foreigners in charge of “hostile attitudes” in favour of the US “citizens, culture, government, institutions, or establishment principles” or “threats to national security.”
The United States has long been an ally of Israel and has supported a campaign in Gaza that killed at least 48,524 Palestinians.
For months after taking office, Trump instructed the Justice Department to “investigate and punish anti-Semitic racism at left-wing anti-American universities and universities.”
And while social media this month he warned him that he would take strong action against campuses that host what is called “illegal protests,” he failed to define what the category entails.
“All federal funds will be suspended for universities, schools or universities that allow illegal protests,” Trump wrote. “Agitators will be imprisoned or sent back to the country they came to forever. American students will be expelled forever, or [sic] A crime arrested. ”
Already on March 7, the Trump administration announced an immediate $400 million cancellation in federal grants and contracts with Columbia University.
Education Secretary Linda McMahon pointed to the increased number of anti-Semitism acts reported following the Hamas-led attack on Israel in October 2023.
“Since October 7th, Jewish students have faced unrelenting violence, intimidation and anti-Semitic harassment on campus, and are simply ignored by those who are supposed to protect them,” McMahon said in a news release around the same time.
“Universities must comply with all federal prevention laws when receiving federal funds.”
Columbia currently receives around $5 billion in federal grants and contracts, according to the Department of Education. Earlier this week, the school moved to expel or suspend students involved in anti-war protests.
Trump’s efforts face repulsion
However, some activists have questioned whether the Trump administration is really motivated to fight hate crimes, or whether anti-Semitism is being used as a smokescreen to further promote other political objectives.
On Thursday, activists and other groups with Jewish voices for peace gathered at Trump Tower in New York City to protest Halil’s arrest, wearing red t-shirts decorated with the slogan “Not our name.”
Critics fear that a student’s civil rights could be violated when reports emerge from Homeland Security officials searching for Columbia University’s dorm rooms.
“If you’re here, I believe you shouldn’t be deported for being arrested, dragged out or engaged in protests that all your classmates are within the right to engage,” the CEO of the Foundation for Personal Rights and Expression wrote on social media on Friday.
The Trump administration has served as a justification for planned deportation by immigration and nationality small sections.
The Secretary of State said “under certain circumstances” that entry into the US has the right to rule out foreigners “which have the potentially serious and disadvantageous foreign policy implications for the US.”
But lawyers and supporters point out that the Supreme Court has repeatedly supported the constitutional rights of immigrants to free speech.
“What happened to Mahmoud is nothing but extraordinary, shocking and outrageous,” Khalil’s lawyer Ramji Qassem said in a recent statement on the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). “In the United States, speeches should be yelling out those who believe that speech should be free.”
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