DHS agents search two Columbia University residences – days after anti-Israel agitator Mahmoud Khalil arrested by ICE
Department of Homeland Security agents executed search warrants on two Columbia University residences on Thursday night – just days after anti-Israel agitator Mahomoud Khlil was arrested by ICE at an off-campus apartment, the Ivy League school announced.
Interim President Katrina Armstrong revealed the raids in a letter to the Columbia community and noted that nobody was arrested or detained when the feds searched the rooms of two students.
“Federal agents from the DHS served Columbia University with two judicial search warrants signed by a federal magistrate judge authorizing DHS to enter non-public areas of the University and conduct searches of two student rooms,” Armstrong said.
“The University has a clear protocol in place. Consistent with this protocol, our longstanding practice, and the practices of cities and institutions throughout the country, the University requires that law enforcement have a judicial warrant to enter non-public University areas, including residential University buildings.”
The “heartbroken” leader said she was “obligated” to comply with the law, adding that no items were removed and no additional action was taken by the feds.
“I understand the immense stress our community is under,” Armstrong continued, providing university resources for students in need.
“Despite the unprecedented challenges, Columbia University will remain a place where the pursuit of knowledge is cherished and fiercely protected, where the rule of law and due process is respected and never taken for granted, and where all members of our community are valued and able to thrive. These are the principles we uphold and that guide us every day.”
Thursday’s raid comes after Khalil – a Palestinian activist who helped fuel the riotous and disruptive protests at Columbia University and Barnard College – was arrested Saturday in his Columbia-owned apartment by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.
The Trump administration is seeking to deport Khalil, a green card holder who is married to an American who is eight months pregnant with his child, over his role in disruptive and at times violent anti-Israel protests at Columbia last summer.
Khalil leads Columbia United Apartheid Divest, a radical group which sympathizes with terror groups like Hamas and Hezbollah and calls for the “end of Western civilization.” The coalition is also responsible for the violent takeover of Columbia’s Hamilton Hall last April.
His arrest came days after President Trump yanked $400 million in grants and contracts from the Ivy League school, claiming Columbia didn’t comply with anti-discrimination laws when it failed to protect Jewish students.
Kahlil is currently being held in a Louisiana lock-up while he fights his case — getting a win on Monday when a judge temporarily blocked any attempt to deport him.
His arrest has sparked massive protests in New York, including on Thursday, when a mob of dozens flooded Trump Tower to push for Khalil to be freed, before cops began arresting the agitators.
Vice President JD Vance said Thursday that he expects “more people” to have their student visas or green cards revoked by the Trump administration.
“This is not fundamentally about free speech, and to me, yes, it’s about national security, but it’s also more importantly about who do we as an American public decide gets to join our national community,” Vance told “The Ingraham Angle” host Laura Ingraham on Fox News.
“And if the secretary of state and the president decided this person shouldn’t be in America, and they have no legal right to stay here, it’s as simple as that. I think we’ll certainly see some people who get deported on student visas if we determine that it’s not in the best interest of the United States to have them in our country.”
DHS did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment.
