Pro-Palestine Protests

The Trump administration is taking aim at Brown University with threats to freeze $510m in grants, widening its promise to withhold federal funding from schools it accuses of allowing antisemitism on campus, according to multiple media outlets including Reuters and the New York Times.

University officials said they had not yet been formally notified, but the school was among dozens warned last month that enforcement actions could be coming as the administration seeks to crack down on academic institutions .

On March 24, a shadowy group that calls itself Canary Mission posted a new feature on its website, “Uncovering Foreign Nationals,” in response to President Trump’s recent executive order on combating antisemitism.

The group, which says its mission is to single out those who promote “hatred of the U.S.A., Israel and Jews on North American college campuses,” listed the names of seven students and academics, including three current and former professors at Columbia University.

Over the past several weeks, a handful of student visa holders and other legal residents have faced deportation for nebulous allegations that they supported terrorism—often being detained and taken away by immigration officials with seemingly no due process, or even an allegation of criminal wrongdoing. Shockingly, the number of affected individuals has reached into the hundreds. On Thursday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio revealed that he has personally intervened to cancel the visas of around 300 students.

The Trump administration on Thursday will make its case to deport pro-Palestine activist and recent Columbia University graduate Mahmoud Khalil.

During a Thursday morning hearing, the federal government is expected to expand on its newest accusations against Khalil, who was arrested earlier this month and taken to an Immigrations and Customs Enforcement detention center.

Khalil holds legal permanent resident status in the United States.

The head of the federal task force to combat antisemitism dismissed “rumors” Thursday that Columbia University was nearing a deal to restore $400 million in federal funds frozen by the Trump administration, arguing that the Ivy League school was “not even close” to meeting President Trump’s demands. 

 Columbia University on Thursday said it had doled out a range of punishments to students who occupied a campus building last spring during pro-Palestinian protests.

The announcement came a week after President Donald Trump's administration announced that it had canceled $400 million in federal grants and contracts in response to what it said was the Ivy League school's poor response to antisemitism on campus.

March 13 (Reuters) - Scores of people poured into the lobby of Trump Tower in New York City on Thursday to protest the arrest and detention of Columbia University student Mahmoud Khalil, whom the Trump administration aims to deport over his pro-Palestinian activism.

The arrest of Khalil, who is in immigration custody in Louisiana after his arrest in New York on Saturday, has sparked an outcry by Democratic lawmakers, the United Nations special rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian territories, and civil liberty advocates, among others.

About 150 protesters supporting Mahmoud Khalil occupied the lobby area of Trump Tower on Manhattan's Fifth Avenue on Thursday, calling for the release of the anti-Israel activist who was detained over the weekend. 

The protesters, many dressed in red, held signs reading "Free Mahmoud, Free Palestine" and "Fight Nazis Not Students." The protesters were also chanting the common "Free, free Palestine" slogan.

NEW YORK (AP) — Demonstrators from a Jewish group filled the lobby of Trump Tower on Thursday to denounce the immigration arrest of Mahmoud Khalil, a pro-Palestinian activist who helped lead protests against Israel at Columbia University.

The Jewish Voice for Peace protesters, who carried banners and wore red shirts reading “Jews say stop arming Israel,” chanted “Bring Mahmoud home now!”