PEC Statement on Mahmoud Khalil

Peace Education Center Opposes the Detention of Mahmoud Khalil and Efforts to Suppress Criticism of the Genocide in Gaza at US Universities 

The Lansing Area Peace Education Center strongly condemns  the detention of Mahmoud Khalil and efforts to suppress criticism of the genocide in Gaza. We believe his arrest and other recent actions by the Trump administration at universities are designed to minimize debate about a war that has killed more than 50,000 Palestinians and 1,700 Israelis. 

These Trump Administration’s actions are illegal and un-American. The First Amendment to the Constitution protects freedom of speech for everyone living in the United States.  The administration’s policies are having a chilling  effect on discussions about the war in Gaza.

We call for the release of Khalil and a halt to efforts to intimidate Americans of one of America’s most cherished freedoms.

On March 8, 2025, Department of Homeland Security agents extrajudicially arrested Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian student at Columbia University, as he was returning from dinner with his wife, an American citizen who is eight months pregnant. They put him on a plane and sent him to a detention center in Louisiana without notice to his attorney or family.

Khalil, who is a permanent legal resident of the United States, helped lead campus protests against the deaths of thousands of women and children in Gaza during Israel’s war against Hamas. He was a spokesman for the university’s Apartheid Divest, a pro-Palestinian group. He received a master’s degree from Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs in December.

This arrest is an escalation of the chilling policies of the Trump administration. It  has accused Khalil of having “led activities aligned to Hamas” but has produced no evidence to support these accusations.

President Trump said Khalil’s case is “the first arrest of many more to come.” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on social media that the administration “will be revoking the visas and/or green cards of Hamas supporters in America so they can be deported.” There is no evidence that Khalil supports Hamas, has been in contact with terrorists or is antisemitic.

In recent weeks the Trump Administration has canceled $400 million in federal funds from Columbia University citing “the school’s continued inaction in the face of persistent harassment of Jewish students.” The Department of Education has also sent letters to 60 colleges – including the University of Michigan – warning them of potential enforcement actions if they don’t fulfill their legal obligations to protect Jewish students.

“The government’s actions are obviously intended to intimidate and chill speech on one side of the debate,” said Ben Wizner, director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s Speech, Privacy and Technology Project. “The government must immediately return Mr. Khalil to New York, release him back to his family and reverse course on this discriminatory policy.”