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At Columbia University in New York, anger and frustration is reaching a boiling point as federal immigration agents have shown up to arrest and deport noncitizen students who have participated in pro-Palestinian protests. Students and faculty warn that President Trump's crackdown will not end with Columbia. NPR's Adrian Florido reports from New York.
ADRIAN FLORIDO, BYLINE: Hundreds of students recently gathered at Columbia University's main gates, their faces wrapped in Palestinian keffiyeh scarves, and they marched.
UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTERS #1: (Chanting) Release Mahmoud Khalil now.
UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTERS #2: (Chanting) Release Mahmoud Khalil now.
UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTERS #1: (Chanting) Release Mahmoud Khalil now.
UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTERS #2: (Chanting) Release Mahmoud Khalil now.
FLORIDO: Federal immigration agents arrested Mahmoud Khalil, a graduate student and legal permanent resident on March 8. He was a leader of pro-Palestinian protests on campus last year. The Trump administration revoked his green card and said it plans to deport him. The president said on social media Khalil's activism was antisemitic and aligned with Hamas terrorism, which Khalil denies. He's being held in Louisiana. President Trump said he was the first arrest of many to come.
A few days later, immigration agents searched the campus apartments of two other students they were looking for. The school let them in. One student had already fled to Canada. The school's interim president, Katrina Armstrong, said in a school-wide email that she was heartbroken, but she said the agents had warrants. Protesters are having none of it.
UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTER: Columbia, we need more than heartbroken. We need real protection.
(CHEERING)
FLORIDO: This protester declined to give his name out of fear of being targeted.
(APPLAUSE)
UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTER: What kind of school, what kind of workplace leaves workers and students vulnerable to politically motivated kidnapping in their own homes?
UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTERS #3: Yeah.
FLORIDO: As the Trump administration targets noncitizen students who've protested Israel and the war in Gaza, students are growing angry their school isn't publicly fighting back. Tasmina is a recent Columbia graduate. She gave NPR only her first name because she's been involved in the pro-Palestinian protests and worries about online harassment. She notes the school hasn't mentioned Khalil in any public statement.
TASMINA: You know, like sending emails about, you know, here are some resources. Here are some counseling services. Is that really all that Columbia can do? That's all that they can offer - are just a link for counseling services - really?
FLORIDO: It's not clear how effectively Columbia could push back. It's facing huge pressure from the Trump administration, which cut $400 million in federal funding for the school, saying it failed to protect Jewish students from harassment during campus protests. It gave the school a list of demands to meet before it would consider restoring the funding. A congressional committee has also ordered Columbia to turn over the disciplinary records of students who participated in protests. In statements sent to NPR, Columbia said it follows the law and requires law enforcement to have a judicial warrant to enter nonpublic university areas.
Sitting near the steps of Columbia's main library, Wyatt Nash, a freshman, said the immigration arrests on campus have been scary. He's Jewish. He knows people on both sides of the Israeli-Palestinian debate, but he says Khalil's arrest united many of them.
WYATT NASH: When that happened, it felt like every single person - no matter what you believed - was, like, everyone should have a right to speak their mind and what they believe in subjects and shouldn't be punished for that, you know?
FLORIDO: Vocal pro-Israel students at Columbia have celebrated the Trump administration's broader crackdown over antisemitism. NPR reached out to several to ask how they feel about Khalil's arrest. They either did not respond or declined to speak about that. Ava Kreutziger, a freshman, says she understands the bind administrators are in as the Trump administration uses funding cuts to pressure the school.
AVA KREUTZIGER: But at the same time, the people should be the priority rather than donors and money. And so I think there should be more of a clear stance from the administration on where they stand - that they want to protect the students and that they are behind us completely, rather than compliant with Trump.
FLORIDO: She thinks how Columbia University responds will signal to other schools whether and how they should fight back if immigration agents show up for their students. Adrian Florido, NPR News, New York.
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