By Michael Gryboski, Editor 
An Episcopal Church bishop has denounced the Trump administration’s attempt to deport a Palestinian activist tied to an organization that supports terrorist attacks against Israel.
Mahmoud Khalil, a graduate student at Columbia University known for his anti-Israel political activism, was detained by federal authorities last Saturday and is facing possible deportation, drawing protests.
Bishop Matthew Heyd of the Episcopal Diocese of New York said in a statement posted to Facebook earlier this week that his regional body “rejects the detention and threat of deportation of Mahmoud Khalil.”
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“In accordance with our faith and civic creed, we uphold the belief that difference and dissent should be safe. We reject deportation based on political viewpoint — whether we agree or disagree,” Heyd continued.
“Today, we stand with our neighbors at Columbia University. We also encourage Columbia to protect its students when they are threatened. Higher education depends on the ability to speak honestly and freely, without fear of retribution; and on attracting people of diverse and international viewpoints.”
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security announced earlier this month that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested Khalil, a native of Syria who was in the United States via a green card and recently completed his master’s degree requirements, in coordination with the State Department. He is married to a U.S. citizen who is pregnant with their first child.
According to the DHS, Khalil’s arrest occurred “in support of President Trump’s executive orders prohibiting anti-Semitism.”
“Khalil led activities aligned to Hamas, a designated terrorist organization,” the department alleged. “ICE and the Department of State are committed to enforcing President Trump’s executive orders and to protecting U.S. national security.”
While supporters like Heyd claim that Khalil shouldn’t be deported based on political viewpoint, Secretary of State Marco Rubio contends that the case is not about “free speech.”
“When you come to the United States as a visitor, which is what a visa is and how this individual entered this country, you are here as a visitor. We can deny you that visa,” he said when questioned by a reporter on Wednesday.
“If you tell us when you apply, ‘Hi, I’m trying to get into the United States on a student visa, I am a big supporter of Hamas, a murderous barbaric group that kidnaps children, that rapes teenage girls, that takes hostages and allows them to die in captivity, that returns more bodies than live hostages,’ if you tell us that you are in favor of a group like this, and you tell us that ‘by the way, I intend to come to your country as a student and rile up all kinds of anti-Jewish student, antisemitic activity, I intend to shut down your university,’ if you told us all these things when you apply for a visa, we would deny your visa.”
“If you actually end up doing that once you are in this country on such a visa, we will revoke it,” he vowed.
Last year, activists at academic institutions throughout the country set up protest encampments at Columbia University and elsewhere in opposition to Israel’s war against the terror group Hamas in Gaza, which was sparked by Hamas’ October 2023 attack that killed over 1,200 people in southern Israel and the abduction of around 240 others.
In addition to the encampment, pro-Palestinian activists took over a building on campus, and Jewish students reported experiencing antisemitic harassment from the protesters.
Khalil was part of the activism on campus, serving as a student negotiator for Columbia University Apartheid Divest, a coalition of pro-Palestinian groups whose leaders have at times voiced support for terror groups like Hamas and Hezbollah.
“What we will see [is] the students will continue their activism, will continue doing what they’ve done in conventional and unconventional ways,” Khalil stated last year. “So not only protests, not only encampments, kind of any — any available means necessary to push Columbia to divest from Israel.”
“And we’ve been working all this summer on our plans, on what’s next to pressure Columbia to listen to the students and to decide to be on the right side of history.”
Canary Mission, an antisemitism watchdog group, shared a video to its social media page earlier this month showing Khalil among the activists who took over a library at Barnard College, an affiliate of Columbia.
Activists at the protest handed out pamphlets from the “Hamas Media Office” that reportedly justified the Gaza Strip-based terror group’s attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. Earlier this week, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt claimed Khalil has handed out Hamas materials.
Earlier this week, U.S. District Judge Jesse Furman stopped the Trump administration from deporting Khalil for now, though he remains in detention in Louisiana at least until next week.
The Trump administration has canceled about $400 million in federal grants to Columbia University over its response to the encampments and harassment of Jewish students. The president had earlier threatened to halt funding for schools that he said permit “illegal protests.”
