Around a hundred University of Wisconsin-Madison students and community members gathered at Library Mall Tuesday for a walkout in support of Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia University graduate and pro-Palestine protest leader who was arrested by immigration officials in New York over the weekend.
Attendees at the walkout, organized by UW-Madison’s Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and Advocates for Immigrant Rights, warned of the implications of Khalil’s arrest on student protesters and demanded respect for free speech and protest.
Khalil, a legal permanent resident of the United States and a negotiator for Columbia’s pro-Palestinian student encampment last year, was inside his university-owned apartment when Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents entered and detained him, stating that they intend to revoke Khalil’s green card. The legality of Khalil’s detention and potential green card revocation — which President Donald Trump said would be the “first of many” — has been heavily criticized by civil rights organizations and freedom of speech experts.
“We're calling on UW-Madison to respect the rights of students to speech, to not comply with order to crack down on the student protests. We’re here in solidarity for Mahmoud Khalil against his illegal arrests and the stripping of his green card,” Mac, an SJP member, told The Daily Cardinal.
At the demonstration, Palestinian music played from speakers while activists held pro-Palestine signs and waved the Palestinian flag. Speakers stood on the steps of Memorial Library, leading chants and delivering statements in support of Khalil and Palestine.
“We need to keep showing up in order to fight for justice, to fight for our rights and for the rights of Palestinians and for the rights of people everywhere,” SJP member Dahlia Saba said during a speech.
Saba underscored the implications of Khalil’s arrest on student protesters, calling it a tactic to intimidate activists into “submission.” She highlighted the importance of continuing to speak out and stand in solidarity with Palestine.
“This is a bellwether for what is acceptable in this country. Do we live in a country where it is acceptable to kidnap a man in the middle of the night because he protested in support of Palestine or not? Because I think that if we live in the former, which we do apparently, then we do not have rights in this country,” Saba told the Cardinal.
Saba also referenced the U.S. Department of Education’s announcement Monday it would investigate 60 colleges and universities, including UW-Madison, over antisemitic discrimination and harassment complaints. The agency warned of potential repercussions, such as the loss of federal funding, if institutions do not intensify their crackdown on student protests.
Student activists also said how Khalil’s arrest was another indicator of Trump’s image for America’s future.
“It shows that Trump was not lying,” UW-Madison senior Mia Kurzer told the Cardinal. “I don't think he has lied once in his campaign trail, other than saying Project 2025 wasn't his, but this was all laid out in the stuff that he said he was going to do. It's imperative that we acknowledge what is happening and how this is against what America should be, not what it is, but what it should be.”
Kurzer and Saba stressed the importance of contacting local representatives and raising awareness about Khalil’s case, urging that the conversation must continue.
“We will not be intimidated into being quiet. We will not be silenced by the threat of deportation of student conduct investigations. We are here because the fight for justice in Palestine is the fight for justice everywhere, and we will not go away,” Saba said.
The activists continued their demonstration with a march through Library Mall to the front of Bascom Hill, yelling chants, holding protest signs and waving Palestinian flags.
