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By: Fern Sidman

In a pointed and unequivocal statement on Tuesday, House Speaker Mike Johnson delivered a forceful response following the arrest of Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia University student whose pro-Hamas agitation has become emblematic of a broader surge in anti-Semitic incidents across American college campuses. The comments reflect growing federal scrutiny over campus radicalism and signal a clear intent to take decisive action against foreign nationals who engage in behavior perceived as threatening or inciting violence — especially against Jewish students.

Johnson’s remarks come amid rising national concern over the safety of Jewish students in the U.S., and his response to Khalil’s arrest highlights a sharpened governmental stance on anti-Semitic activity, particularly when carried out by individuals studying in the country on temporary visas.

When questioned about the incident, Speaker Johnson did not mince words. He condemned anti-Semitic threats and attacks unequivocally, framing such acts as incompatible with the values and laws of the United States. Specifically addressing the case of Mahmoud Khalil, Johnson issued a stark warning to any international student who may consider engaging in similar behavior.

“If you are on a student visa and you’re an aspiring young terrorist who wants to prey upon your Jewish classmates,” Johnson said bluntly, “you’re going home. We’re going to arrest your tail, and we’re going to send you home where you belong.”

This remark marked one of the most explicit statements yet from a high-ranking government official concerning the consequences for foreign students who participate in extremist, hateful, or threatening activity on U.S. soil. Johnson’s statement also shines a spotlight on a growing political call for stricter enforcement of visa regulations in response to ideological radicalization on university campuses.

In his remarks, Speaker Johnson also recalled his own experience visiting Columbia University during a period of heightened campus unrest. He referenced being confronted by what he described as “an angry mob,” adding a personal dimension to his concerns about the escalation of hostility toward Jewish students and invited speakers. His recollection was not only anecdotal but served as a broader warning about the volatility that has increasingly characterized protests and demonstrations on college campuses — often cloaked in political rhetoric, but at times laced with overt hatred.

Calls to revoke student visas and initiate removal proceedings against individuals accused of such behavior may now find broader political traction, especially given the urgency surrounding anti-Semitism on U.S. campuses in the wake of the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.

In a dramatic turn of events, a federal judge in Manhattan issued a ruling on Monday that bars the deportation of Khalil “unless and until the Court orders otherwise.” The decision comes after Khalil was taken into custody by federal authorities over the weekend, igniting fierce legal, political, and ideological debate across the country.

As Fox News Digital reported, Khalil, a prominent figure in the anti-Israel encampments and protests that recently gripped Columbia University’s campus, was apprehended by federal agents on Saturday on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has identified Khalil as a former student who “led activities aligned to Hamas, a designated terrorist organization.” He is currently being held at the LaSalle Detention Facility in Louisiana, according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

The judge’s decision delays any immediate deportation proceedings, pending further legal review. A formal hearing has been scheduled for Wednesday, during which Khalil’s legal team is expected to argue for his immediate release and return to New York City while his case unfolds. His attorney, Amy E. Greer, contends that his detention is unlawful and a blatant overreach of government authority.

In a statement shared Monday evening and cited by Fox News Digital, Greer said Khalil is “healthy and his spirits are undaunted by his predicament,” but emphasized that the case represents a dangerous precedent for civil liberties.

“The remarks by government officials, including the President, on social media only confirm the purpose – and illegality – of Mahmoud’s detention,” Greer stated. “He was chosen as an example to stifle entirely lawful dissent in violation of the First Amendment… The government’s objective is as transparent as it is unlawful, and our role as Mahmoud’s lawyers is to ensure it does not prevail.”

Khalil’s wife also released a heartfelt public statement, pleading for her husband’s release and describing him not as a threat, but as a loving family man.

“Mahmoud is my rock, he is my home, and he is my happy place,” she wrote. “I urge you to see Mahmoud through my eyes as a loving husband and the future father to our baby… I need your help to bring Mahmoud home, so he is here beside me, holding my hand in the delivery room as we welcome our first child into this world. Please release Mahmoud now.”

The controversy surrounding Khalil’s detention has sparked strong reactions from political figures, particularly on the progressive left. Representative Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., a member of the “Squad,” condemned the arrest in a video posted to Instagram, calling it an “egregious violation of constitutional rights,” according to the Fox News Digital report.

“It is dangerous to allow our government to target people based on political speech,” Tlaib warned. “More targeting of students like this will happen. Everyone should be concerned about this.”

Despite the uproar, DHS continues to assert that Khalil’s activities on campus aligned with Hamas — an organization recognized by the U.S. government as a foreign terrorist entity. While no formal criminal charges have been announced publicly, federal agencies have indicated that Khalil’s immigration status is under review in light of national security concerns.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., became the latest high-profile Democrat to publicly question the legality and rationale behind Khalil’s apprehension. According to a report at Fox News Digital, in a statement Monday, Jeffries described Khalil as a “legal permanent resident whose wife, an American citizen, is eight months pregnant.” He cautioned against conflating Khalil’s alleged conduct with criminality, stating that any disciplinary issues stemming from his protest activities should be handled within the university’s academic framework — not through immigration detention.

“To the extent his actions were inconsistent with Columbia University policy and created an unacceptable hostile academic environment for Jewish students and others, there is a serious university disciplinary process that can handle the matter,” Jeffries said, according to Fox News Digital.

New York State Attorney General Letitia James also weighed in Monday, expressing “extreme concern” over Khalil’s detention. In a social media post cited by Fox News Digital, James described Khalil as “an advocate and legal permanent resident of Palestinian descent,” and confirmed that her office is now in communication with his legal counsel.

“My office is monitoring the situation, and we are in contact with his attorney,” James said, signaling possible legal oversight from the state’s top law enforcement office.

Her statement came just hours before hundreds of demonstrators gathered outside the Jacob K. Javits Federal Building in Manhattan, rallying in support of Khalil. As seen in photos published by Fox News Digital, protesters waved Palestinian flags, donned keffiyehs, and carried placards condemning what they described as political persecution.

The demonstrators carried signs that said “Release Mahmoud Khalil,” with the activist’s image, and chanted, “We want justice, you say how? ICE off our campus now.”

“I believe that Palestine will win,” they chanted. One sign said, “Stop Jewish fascism,” and another showed President Trump doing a “Sieg Heil” salute in front of a swastika.

“Trump thinks he can strip our rights, to attack our movement,” a speaker told the crowd. “To that we say, ‘You are wrong, we will not be silenced, we will continue to organize and we will continue to struggle until the complete liberation of Palestine.’

“They make figures like Hamas and ‘terrorists’ into enemies,” another speaker said.

“There are actual terrorists in the United States, but they are not Mahmoud Khalil,” he said. “The terror comes from the capitalists and their pawns.”

In stark contrast, former President Trump doubled down on his administration’s tough stance, characterizing Khalil’s detention as part of a broader crackdown on what he called “terrorist sympathizers” in higher education institutions.

“Khalil’s apprehension was the first arrest of many to come,” Trump posted on Truth Social, as reported by Fox News Digital. “We know there are more students at Columbia and other Universities across the Country who have engaged in pro-terrorist, anti-Semitic, anti-American activity, and the Trump Administration will not tolerate it.”

In his post, Trump also claimed that “many are not students, they are paid agitators,” and vowed to “find, apprehend, and deport these terrorist sympathizers from our country — never to return again.”

As debate rages over the Khalil case, the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights escalated its own response to a nationwide wave of campus anti-Semitism. On Monday, the agency issued a stern warning to 60 colleges and universities across the country, stating that their federal funding could be at risk due to alleged failures in protecting Jewish students from discrimination and harassment.

According to a report in The New York Post, the targeted institutions include six of the eight Ivy League schools — Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Harvard, Princeton, and Yale — as well as major regional colleges such as Rutgers, Rutgers-Newark, Sarah Lawrence College, The New School, and three branches of the State University of New York (SUNY). Additional schools under scrutiny include Wellesley College in Massachusetts, Emerson College in Boston, and several Pennsylvania institutions such as Lehigh University, Lafayette College, Muhlenberg College, and Swarthmore College, as well as Middlebury College in Vermont.

The Education Department’s letter effectively “named and shamed” these institutions, emphasizing that anti-Semitic hostility is no longer a matter of campus policy alone but a federal civil rights issue with serious funding implications.

In a searing statement on Monday, Education Secretary Linda McMahon condemned the deteriorating environment for Jewish students, citing over a year of “relentless anti-Semitic eruptions” that have severely disrupted academic life.

“The Department is deeply disappointed that Jewish students studying on elite U.S. campuses continue to fear for their safety amid the relentless anti-Semitic eruptions that have severely disrupted campus life for more than a year. University leaders must do better,” McMahon stated, as reported by The New York Post.

She emphasized that federal support for higher education is a privilege — not a right — and said it hinges on strict compliance with antidiscrimination statutes under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act.

“U.S. colleges and universities benefit from enormous public investments funded by U.S. taxpayers,” McMahon said. “That support is a privilege, and it is contingent on scrupulous adherence to federal antidiscrimination laws.”

The statement came just three days after the Trump administration’s federal anti-Semitism task force revoked $400 million in grants and contracts from Columbia University, a financial punishment tied directly to the school’s prolonged failure to address months of anti-Jewish campus activity following the October 7, 2023, Hamas terror attack against Israel.

As The New York Post report indicated, the protests — many of them led by student groups aligned with the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement — have frequently veered into hostile and threatening territory, prompting formal complaints from Jewish students, faculty, and advocacy groups.

In response to a Trump-era executive order mandating aggressive action against anti-Semitism, the Department of Education began formal investigations into Columbia University, Northwestern University, the University of Portland, UC Berkeley, and the University of Minnesota. On Monday, the department expanded its list, confirming that an additional 55 institutions are now under active review or monitoring by the Office for Civil Rights (ORC).

These investigations stem from a backlog of complaints filed by Jewish students who report being harassed, intimidated, and marginalized on campuses across the country. The ORC is now working to address these cases in what has become one of the most sweeping federal enforcement actions ever targeting anti-Semitic discrimination in academia, according to the report in The New York Post.

In a parallel move, the State Department is reportedly preparing to revoke visas of foreign students who have expressed support for Hamas or have engaged in unlawful behavior during anti-Israel demonstrations.

As The New York Post reported, the move is part of a broader strategy to deter radical activism and reinforce the consequences for non-citizens who align themselves with extremist ideologies on U.S. soil.

Higher education institutions are also now facing steep financial pressure, as the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) implements across-the-board spending cuts in response to concerns about the misuse of federal resources by ideologically compromised institutions.

On Monday, Harvard University announced a hiring freeze, citing apprehension over the stability of future federal research funding.

Adding further weight to the campaign, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) revealed on Tuesday that it will slash $250 million in funding across more than 400 grants awarded to Columbia University, citing concerns about the institution’s failure to uphold standards of campus neutrality and student safety.

As highlighted by The New York Post, these developments mark a historic turning point in the federal government’s relationship with higher education. Once considered untouchable due to their academic prestige and political clout, elite universities are now under sharp scrutiny for their handling — or mishandling — of anti-Semitism and campus extremism.

The NIH’s decision reflects growing frustration within federal agencies over what they describe as institutional negligence, and it marks a sharp escalation in the Trump administration’s broader campaign to penalize universities failing to uphold federal civil rights protections.

“The cancellations are due to Columbia University’s continued inaction in the face of persistent harassment of Jewish students,” NIH stated, in a message obtained by The New York Post.