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Louisiana judge rules university student Mahmoud Khalil eligible for deportation

April 11, 2025

A Louisiana immigration judge ruled Friday that Columbia University student Mahmoud Khalil is eligible for deportation after the Trump administration accused the legal permanent resident of being a threat to U.S. foreign policy for his involvement in pro-Palestinian activism.

Judge Jamee Comans issued her ruling after a nearly two-hour hearing at the LaSalle Immigration Court in Jena, Louisiana, where Khalil, 30, has been detained since he was arrested at his New York City apartment last month and stripped of his green-card status. The judge set a deadline of April 23 for Khalil’s legal team to apply for a wavier to delay or prevent the administration from removing him from the country, his attorneys said.

Khalil’s legal team said before the hearing that the judge’s ruling would not mean he is immediately removed from the country. Khalil has filed a federal court lawsuit in New Jersey challenging his arrest as unconstitutional, and the outcome of that case could block his deportation if they are victorious, the lawyers said.

The ruling in Louisiana marked a milestone victory for the Trump administration, which has targeted international university students and faculty for detention and deportation. Some have been involved in campus activism and others are accused of unlawful activities.

In some cases, the scholars have been stripped of their legal status based on relatively minor legal infractions that were dropped without convictions. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said last month the administration had revoked about 300 visas. Figures released Thursday by a nonprofit education group indicate the total figure is likely higher. The data collected by NAFSA: Association of International Educators indicates nearly 1,000 students and scholars have had their visas revoked and/or their records terminated in an ICE database, thus putting their legal status in the country in jeopardy.

In a State Department memo, submitted to the court this week, Rubio said Khalil and another student, whose name was redacted, helped foster “a hostile environment for Jewish students in the United States.”

Rubio wrote that their continued presence in the country would “undermine U.S. policy to combat antisemitism around the world and in the United States, in addition to efforts to protect Jewish students from harassment and violence.”

Khalil’s legal team vigorously rejected the government’s accusations. They said the Trump administration is targeting their client and others student activists over political views and violating their constitutional rights to free speech.

Found on mainstream news.

Vandalism of NYPD Cars in Queens During Rockaway Boulevard Sideshow

March 31, 2025

Chaos erupted in Queens yesterday morning when a group of individuals vandalized three NYPD vehicles. The incident occurred around 1 a.m. along Rockaway Boulevard in Ozone Park and involved damage such as broken windows and dented doors, inflicted, at least in part, by traffic cones.

Video footage from the scene showed several individuals surrounding the police vehicles, with some even going so far as to mount the cars and smash the windows. Amidst the chaos, police sirens blared and attempts to quickly back away were made by the battered vehicles. [News source] described one person using a traffic cone to crack the windshield of an unmarked car, while others joined in to cause further damage. The NYPD has confirmed that three of their cars suffered from broken windows and dents.

No injuries were reported during this incident, but authorities are still actively searching for more individuals involved in the vandalism and the reckless driving that took place the night prior. Footage provided by [news source] shows most of the suspects wearing masks, adding a layer of difficulty to their identification and capture.

Among the individuals arrested were [name] of Massachusetts and two teenagers from New Hampshire and Queens. Charges against them range from criminal mischief to reckless endangerment. One of the accused was specifically charged with stealing a bag from the back of a police car, which contained paperwork.

Found on mainstream news.

Tesla vandalism incidents in New York City and New Jersey

March 29, 2025

The NYPD is searching for the vandals who carved a swastika on a parked Tesla in Brooklyn.

It’s part of a growing number of attacks against Teslas amid CEO Elon Musk’s role in the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency and the slashing of thousands of federal jobs.

The NYPD Hate Crimes Task Force is now investigating the Cybertruck that was vandalized in Bedford-Stuyvesant.

Video released by the NYPD shows one suspect crouch down next to the Cybertruck and allegedly carve a swastika and the word “Nazi” onto the door while another suspect looked on.

It happened on Monroe Street early Thursday morning.

Another incident was reported Thursday, which happened on March 13.

A 38-year-old man found a sticker with a swastika and “Musk” written on it affixed to the driver’s side rear bumper of his Tesla sedan, parked at Hawthorne Street and Rogers Avenue in Prospect Lefferts Gardens, Brooklyn.

This follows another similar act of vandalism in the city. Police say two suspects painted a red swastika on a Cybertruck near the intersection of Rivington and Chrystie streets on the Lower East Side.

It happened on March 6 after 10 p.m. The Hate Crimes Task Force is also involved in that investigation.

In South Jersey, neighbors are on alert after they say a man aggressively pursued several Tesla owners over the weekend.

This was in the Cherry Hill neighborhood Saturday evening, when the driver of a red Acura SUV was spotted antagonizing Tesla drivers.

“He was driving on the wrong side of the road and driving very erratically,” a victim said. “The person driving the red SUV blocked us from pulling out of the driveway, rolled down his window, and said, ‘You know why, right?’ And flipped us the middle finger.”

Found on mainstream news.

Vandals splash Columbia University president’s home with red paint as protests rage over ICE arrest of Mahmoud Khalil

Vandals targeted the home of Columbia University’s president, splashing the historic residence with red paint and scrawling the words “Free Them All,” as protests rage this week over ICE’s arrest of former protest ringleader Mahmoud Khalil, cops said.

The side of the building at 60 Morningside Drive appeared to have been pelted with red paint balloons — with the urgent message scrawled in black marker — when Columbia’s public safety officers spotted the damage around 12:50 a.m., police said.

Columbia’s current interim president, Katrina Armstrong, lives in the building, sources said.

Continue reading “Vandals splash Columbia University president’s home with red paint as protests rage over ICE arrest of Mahmoud Khalil”

Rage Against Elon Musk Turns Tesla Into a Target

March 8, 2025

Tesla charging stations were set ablaze near Boston on Monday. Shots were fired at a Tesla dealership in Oregon after midnight on Thursday. Arrests were made at a nonviolent protest at a Tesla dealership in Lower Manhattan on Saturday.

The electric car company Tesla increasingly found itself in police blotters across the country this week, more than seven weeks after President Trump’s second inauguration swept Tesla’s chief executive, Elon Musk, into the administration as a senior adviser to the president.

Mr. Musk, 53, is drawing increasing backlash for his sweeping cuts to federal agencies, a result of the newly formed cost-cutting initiative Mr. Musk has labeled the Department of Government Efficiency.

During a demonstration on Saturday at a gleaming Tesla showroom in the West Village neighborhood of Manhattan, protesters joined in chants of “Nobody voted for Elon Musk” and “Oligarchs out, democracy in.” One held a sign saying, “Send Musk to Mars Now!!” (Mr. Musk also owns SpaceX.)

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Columbia University Student Activist Detained by Department of Homeland Security Following Threats of Deportation of Pro-Palestinian Students

The arrest comes on the heels of the Department of State’s announcement that it plans to deport students affiliated with pro-Palestine protests. The student, who is Palestinian, is a lawful permanent resident of the United States.

NEW YORK, NEW YORK—On March 8, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) agents arrested Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian activist and recent graduate student at Columbia University, at his place of residence, an apartment building owned by the university.

The DHS agents said that the U.S. Department of State had revoked Khalil’s green card.

At approximately 8:30 p.m. ET, Khalil and his wife, a U.S. citizen who is eight months pregnant, had just unlocked the door to their building when two plainclothes DHS agents forced their way in behind them. The agents initially refused to identify themselves, instead asking Khalil to confirm his identity before detaining him without explanation. The agents proceeded to threaten his wife, telling her that if she remained by his side, they would arrest her too.

Later, the DHS agents stated that the U.S. Department of State had revoked Khalil’s student visa, despite the fact that he has a green card, not a visa, and is a lawful permanent resident. An agent showed Khalil what he claimed was a warrant on his phone. Khalil’s wife went into their apartment to retrieve his green card while the agents remained with Khalil downstairs. When she returned, advising them of Khalil’s legal status and presenting them with Khalil’s green card, one agent was visibly confused and said on the phone, “He has a green card.” However, after a moment, the DHS agents stated that the State Department had “revoked that too.” Khalil’s wife then phoned his attorney, who spoke with the agents in an attempt to intervene. When Khalil’s attorney requested that a copy of the warrant be emailed to her, the agent hung up the call.

Continue reading “Columbia University Student Activist Detained by Department of Homeland Security Following Threats of Deportation of Pro-Palestinian Students”

Nine arrested at New York Tesla dealership as anti-Musk protests break out

Nine people were arrested during a raucous demonstration outside a New York City Tesla dealership on Saturday, protesting owner Elon Musk’s role in sweeping cuts to the federal workforce at the behest of President Donald Trump.

The protest, which police said involved hundreds of people, was one of a wave of “Tesla Takedown” demonstrations staged across the country targeting billionaire Musk, who is spearheading the Trump administration’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE.

Throngs of protesters also descended on the electric vehicle maker’s showrooms in Jacksonville, Florida, Tucson, Arizona, and other cities, blocking traffic, chanting and waving signs reading “Burn a Tesla: Save Democracy,” and “No Dictators in the USA.”

Continue reading “Nine arrested at New York Tesla dealership as anti-Musk protests break out”

alleged assault of public safety officer

The Transport Workers Union condemned student protesters from Wednesday’s Barnard sit-in for allegedly injuring a public safety responder and Barnard for “consistently ignoring officers’ safety concerns.”

TWU’s statement, titled “TWU Blasts Barnard Protesters, Criticizes College,” described a 41-year-old officer, who is represented by TWU Local 264, being “pushed and shoved during the stampede” as protesters entered Milbank Hall at 4 p.m.

A New York Police Department spokesperson told Spectator Wednesday night that the department had a report on file for an assault at around 4:09 p.m. “in the vicinity of” 606 W. 120th Street—Milbank’s address. As of 4:43 p.m. Thursday, no arrests had been made for the assault, an NYPD spokesperson told Spectator.

“He was pinned by the rushing crowd against a beam separating the two doors,” the TWU wrote in its statement. “One protester lowered his shoulder and slammed into the worker like a linebacker.”

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Protesters stage sit-in outside Barnard dean’s office

February 26, 2025

Dozens of protesters staged a sit-in outside Barnard Dean Leslie Grinage’s office in Milbank Hall the afternoon of Wednesday calling for the “immediate reversal” of two student expulsions. The protesters dispersed at around 10:30 p.m. with a tentative agreement to meet with Grinage and Barnard President Laura Rosenbury on Thursday.

Protesters spent over six hours in Milbank, demanding that Grinage meet with them publicly and “accept the appeals of our expelled students.” They demanded that all Columbia and Barnard students involved in the sit-in receive amnesty and that the University not pursue disciplinary action for the sit-in.

Columbia University Apartheid Divest wrote in a Wednesday Instagram post that the protesters were demanding Barnard “reverse the expulsions” of two Barnard students whom CUAD wrote had been expelled for their participation in the Jan. 21 disruption of the class History of Modern Israel.

A flyer posted on the wall inside Milbank addressed to Grinage and Rosenbury listed four demands, including an “immediate reversal of the two Barnard students’ expulsions,” “amnesty for all students disciplined for pro-Palestine action or thought,” “a public meeting” with Rosenbury and Grinage, and “abolition of the corrupt Barnard disciplinary process and complete transparency” for disciplinary proceedings.

“Today, we are here to demand Dean Grinage accept the appeals of our expelled students, REINSTATING THEM IMMEDIATELY and ABOLISHING THE CARCERAL DISCIPLINARY SYSTEM,” CUAD’s statement on Instagram read.

Continue reading “Protesters stage sit-in outside Barnard dean’s office”

Barnard expels students for class disruption, pro-Palestinian protest

February 24, 2025

Barnard college, an affiliate of Columbia University in New York, reportedly expelled two students last week for disrupting a session of the class “History of Modern Israel.”

The Barnard students, both seniors in their last semester of undergraduate studies, banged on drums while chanting “free Palestine” and distributed flyers with the phrase “CRUSH ZIONISM” and a depiction of a boot over the Star of David, according to [news source].

A Columbia University student was also involved in the protest and has since been suspended and barred from campus, the university said in a press release last month.

The history course is being run by Columbia, and the disturbance occurred on the first day of spring semester classes for both schools, according to the student group Columbia University Apartheid Divest.

The pro-Palestinian coalition criticized the expulsions in a statement posted to X Sunday, calling Barnard’s decision “a serious escalation in the crackdown” against student activism. The group said in their post they plan to hold “a week of action” Monday through Thursday in response.

Columbia University became the epicenter of nationwide protests last spring, during which students built encampments and denounced Israel’s escalating response in its war against Hamas. In one day of demonstrations last April, more than 100 Columbia students were arrested on campus.

More than 50 students from Barnard have been suspended for political protest, according to Columbia University Apartheid Divest.

Found on mainstream news.