Federal agents are seen arresting Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil in a newly released video​on March 14, 2025 at 9:43 pm

NEW YORK (AP) — A video released Friday shows the moment federal immigration agents arrested Mahmoud Khalil, a prominent Palestinian activist and outspoken Columbia University graduate student whose detention has sparked waves of protest across the country.

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The clip begins with at least three immigration agents confronting Khalil in the lobby of his apartment building near the Columbia campus Saturday night. The agents inform him that he is “going to be under arrest,” then repeatedly order him to “turn around” and “stop resisting.”

“There’s no need for this,” Khalil replies calmly as they place him in handcuffs. “I’m going with you. No worries.”

As his wife, Noor Abdalla, cries out in protest, Khalil assures her that he will be fine and instructs her to call his attorney, who was representing him in a student disciplinary case.

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Abdalla, an American citizen who is eight months pregnant, then asks the immigration agents to identify themselves. “We don’t give our names,” one replies, as Khalil is hustled out of the frame.

The video was released by Khalil’s attorneys the same day the Justice Department announced that it was investigating whether the university concealed “illegal aliens” on its campus.

In a statement accompanying the video, Abdalla described the interaction as “the most terrifying moment of my life.” She said the arrest happened as the couple were returning home from an Iftar celebration to their apartment, which is owned by Columbia University.

“This felt like a kidnapping because it was: Officers in plainclothes — who refused to show us a warrant, speak with our attorney, or even tell us their names — forced my husband into an unmarked car and took him away from me,” she continued. “They threatened to take me too, even though we were calm and fully cooperating.”

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President Donald Trump has warned that the attempted deportation of Khalil will be the “first of many” brought against those who joined protests against Israel’s actions during the war in Gaza.

Lawyers for the Justice Department say in court papers that Kahlil, a lawful U.S. resident with no criminal history, was detained under a law allowing Secretary of State Marco Rubio to remove someone from the country if he has reasonable grounds to believe their presence or activities would have potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences.

On Thursday, Khalil’s lawyers filed new court documents describing how he was rushed from New York to Louisiana last weekend in a manner that left the outspoken Columbia University graduate student feeling like he was being kidnapped.

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The experience reminded Khalil of when he left Syria shortly after the forced disappearance of his friends there during a period of arbitrary detention in 2013, the lawyers wrote.

According to the lawsuit, Khalil repeatedly asked to speak to a lawyer after he was snatched by federal agents. After he was taken to FBI headquarters in lower Manhattan, Khalil saw an agent approach another agent and say, “the White House is requesting an update,” the lawyers wrote.

At some point early Sunday, Khalil was taken, handcuffed and shackled, to the Elizabeth Detention Center in Elizabeth, New Jersey, a privately run facility where he spent the night in a cold waiting room for processing, his request for a blanket denied, the lawsuit said.

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When he reached the front of the line for processing, he was told his processing would not occur after all because he was being transported by immigration authorities, according to the suit.

Put in a van, Khalil noticed that one of the agents received a text message instructing that Khalil was not to use his phone, the lawsuit said.

At 2:45 p.m. Sunday, he was put on an American Airlines flight from Kennedy International Airport to Dallas, where he was put on a second flight to Alexandria, Louisiana. He arrived at 1 a.m. Monday and a police car took him to the Louisiana Detention Facility in Jena, Louisiana, it said.

At the facility, he now worries about his pregnant wife and is “also very concerned about missing the birth of his first child,” the lawsuit said.

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In April, Khalil was to begin a job and receive health benefits that the couple was counting on to cover costs related to the birth and care of the child, it added.

“It is very important to Mr. Khalil to be able to continue his protected political speech, advocating and protesting for the rights of Palestinians — both domestically and abroad,” the lawsuit said, noting that Khalil was planning to speak on a panel at the upcoming premiere in Copenhagen, Denmark, of a documentary in which he is featured.

The filing late Thursday in Manhattan federal court was the result of a federal judge’s Wednesday order that they finally be allowed to speak privately with Khalil.

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