Immigration officials have arrested a second person who participated in Pro-Palestine protests at Columbia University, and have revoked the visa of another student, who "self-deported", officials announced.
Leqaa Kordia, a Palestinian from occupied West Bank, was arrested by immigration officers for overstaying her student visa, the Department of Homeland Security said on Friday.
Kordia's visa was terminated in January 2022 for "lack of attendance," the department said. Kordia was previously arrested for her involvement in protests at Columbia in April 2024, it added.
The Trump administration also revoked the visa of Ranjani Srinivasan, an Indian citizen and doctoral student, on March 5 "for advocating for violence and terrorism."
On Tuesday, Srinivasan opted to "self-deport," the department said.
TRT Global - Members of Jewish Voice for Peace protest inside Trump Tower in support of Columbia graduate Mahmoud Khalil, who has been detained and faces deportation over his activism against Israel's genocide in Gaza.
Mahmoud Khalil's arrest
The announcement comes after the recent arrest of Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian activist who helped lead student protests at the school and is facing deportation.
Khalil was rushed from New York to Louisiana last weekend in a manner that left the outspoken Columbia University graduate student feeling like he was being kidnapped, his lawyers wrote in an updated lawsuit seeking his immediate release.
The lawyers described in detail what happened to the Palestinian activist as he was flown to Louisiana by agents he said never identified themselves.
Once there, he was left to sleep in a bunker with no pillow or blanket as top US officials cheered the effort to deport a man his lawyers say sometimes became the "public face" of student protests on Columbia's campus against Israel's genocidal war in Gaza.
The filing late on Thursday in Manhattan federal court was the result of a federal judge's Wednesday order that they finally be allowed to speak with Khalil.
The lawyers said his treatment by federal authorities from Saturday, when he was first arrested, to Monday reminded Khalil of when he left Syria shortly after the forced disappearance of his friends there during a period of arbitrary detention in 2013.
"Throughout this process, Mr. Khalil felt as though he was being kidnapped," the lawyers wrote of his treatment.
Earlier this week, President Donald Trump heralded Khalil's arrest as the first "of many to come," vowing on social media to deport students he said engage in "pro-terrorist, anti-Semitic, anti-American activity."
Shock and alarm
Students of the Ivy League university have expressed shock and alarm over the brazen "threat to free speech " and the institute's role in bending to "authoritarianism."
Hundreds of demonstrators have in recent days rallied across the US to demand the release of Khalil while US lawmakers and civil rights organisations have taken to social media to criticise his arrest.
A petition calling for Khalil's release had amassed over 3.2 million signatures by Friday afternoon.
The petition attributes the situation to Columbia University's compliance with the US administration, Zionist groups in America, and doxing sites like Canary Mission.
