DHS revokes visa of 2nd Columbia student, another self-deports after Mahmoud Khalil arrest: report

A second foreign student in the US to study on a student visa has reportedly been arrested by agents with the Department of Homeland Security. She was involved in pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia University. This comes after Mahmoud Khalil was detained by DHS, his green card revoked by the Department of State, and is facing deportation over his involvement in the protests at Columbia in the wake of the Oct. 7 attacks in Israel.

According to the New York Post, the second student, Leqaa Kordia, was allegedly "advocating for violence and terrorism." Kordia, who is a Palestinian from the West Bank of Israel, was arrested by agents working with DHS and had allegedly overstayed her visa in the United States.

Additionally, an Indian student who was involved in the protests at Columbia, Ranjani Srinivasan, has self-deported after her visa was revoked by the State Department on March 5. She was a doctoral student at Columbia and a teaching fellow at Barnard College. On Tuesday, she was seen rushing to catch a plane at LaGuardia airport to flee to Canada.

The arrest and self-deportation of the students involved in the protest comes after ICE detained Khalil, who helped to lead an anti-Israel Columbia protest and was the spokesperson for the protesters who occupied campus and took over Hamilton Hall in April 2024. Khalil is maried to a US citizen.

While Democrats have argued that the Department of Justice has illegally detained Khalil in a form of "retaliation" in violation of the First Amendment, the DOJ has said that he was legally arrested because his green card was revoked by the State Department. He is currently in detention in Louisiana as the Trump administration and his 19 attorneys sort out where his hearing should take place.

On Friday, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche told reporters that the protest led by Khalil on campus at Columbia “violated civil rights laws and included terrorism crimes." Additionally, the Trump administration is investigating Columbia University for "harboring and concealing illegal aliens on its campus." DHS Secretary Kristi Noem told reporters on Friday that it is “a privilege to be granted a visa to live and study in the United States of America," adding, "When you advocate for violence and terrorism, that privilege should be revoked."

Khalil was part of the radical Columbia University Apartheid Divest, which has been active in organizing protests at the New York school. The group also spearheaded the occupation of Columbia's Hamilton Hall in April during the string of demonstrations.

According to a student journalist who reported the Columbia protest in the spring at Columbia writing at Politico, Khalil was a "lead negotiator representing the student protesters to the Columbia administration during the school’s 'Gaza Solidarity Encampment.'"