• Mahmoud Khalil was arrested by ICE without a warrant on March 8, 2024.
• The Trump administration claimed "exigent circumstances" justified the warrantless arrest.
• Khalil's legal team argues he was cooperative and poses no flight risk.
• Video evidence contradicts government claims about Khalil's alleged uncooperativeness.
• Khalil's arrest is viewed as part of a broader crackdown on pro-Palestinian activism.

Newly filed court documents reveal that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents arrested Columbia University activist Mahmoud Khalil without a warrant on March 8, 2024. The Trump administration's legal team cited "exigent circumstances" to justify the arrest, asserting that agents believed Khalil might flee before a warrant could be obtained. However, his lawyers contest this narrative, arguing that no evidence supports claims that Khalil was uncooperative at the time of his arrest, according to ABC News and The Hill.

During the arrest, video footage recorded by Khalil’s wife depicts him complying with the agents while stating, “I’m coming with you,” contradicting claims made by government attorneys that he refused to cooperate. Khalil's lawyer, Marc Van Der Hout, emphasized that the government initially misled the immigration court, asserting they had a warrant when they did not, as confirmed through the recent court filings, according to HuffPost and AA.

Khalil, a legal green card holder and activist known for organizing protests against Israel’s actions in Gaza, has been detained in Louisiana since his arrest and missed the birth of his first child. His attorneys argue that the lack of a warrant is grounds for dismissing the deportation proceedings against him, emphasizing that Khalil showed no indication of being a flight risk, according to information from TRT Global and India Times.

The Trump administration's actions regarding Khalil have been criticized as part of a broader crackdown on pro-Palestinian activism across U.S. campuses, with various incidents of arrests and deportations linked to political dissent surfacing in court and media reports. Khalil's case has garnered considerable attention from civil rights advocates, who view this arrest as political persecution rather than a lawful enforcement action, as noted by India Times and The Hill.