Maryam Alwan, a Palestinian American senior at Columbia who has protested alongside Khalil, said Trump was dehumanising Palestinians.
“I am horrified for my dear friend Mahmoud, who is a legal resident, and I am horrified this is only the beginning,” she said.
The New York Civil Liberties Union said the detention of Khalil was unlawful, retaliatory and an attack on free speech rights.
Donna Lieberman, the group's executive director, said the detention “is a frightening escalation of Trump’s crackdown on pro-Palestine speech, and an aggressive abuse of immigration law”.
Columbia issued a revised protocol last week for how students and school staff should deal with federal immigration agents seeking to enter private school property.
The school said ICE agents without a judicial arrest warrant may be allowed to enter its private property in “exigent circumstances”, which it did not specify.
“By allowing ICE on campus, Columbia is surrendering to the Trump administration's assault on universities across the country and sacrificing international students to protect its finances,” the Student Workers of Columbia said.
Khalil lives in a university apartment building outside Columbia's main gated campus.
**Reuters**