As of March 28, 2025, several students involved in college campus protests, particularly those tied to pro-Palestinian or anti-Israel demonstrations, have been publicly identified following their detentions. These cases have drawn significant attention due to their connection to broader protest movements and the subsequent actions by U.S. immigration authorities under the Trump administration’s crackdown on foreign students accused of supporting Hamas or engaging in disruptive activities.
One prominent example is Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian graduate student at Columbia University, detained by ICE on March 9, 2025, in his university-owned apartment in New York. Khalil, who had been active in Columbia’s pro-Palestinian protests, was accused by ICE of “leading activities aligned to Hamas,” though no specific criminal charges have been detailed publicly. His detention, reported by NPR and Reuters, marks one of the first high-profile actions aligning with Trump’s pledge to deport foreign students involved in such protests. Khalil’s whereabouts were initially unclear, causing concern among his peers and legal representatives.
Another case involves Legaa Kordia, a Palestinian national and Columbia University student, arrested by ICE in Newark on March 13, 2025, as reported by Fox News via posts on X. Her student visa was revoked, linking her detention to her participation in Columbia’s protest activities. Similarly, Ranjani Srinivasan, an Indian national and Columbia protest organizer, had her visa revoked and “self-deported” to Canada around the same time, according to DHS statements cited on X. Both cases were highlighted as part of a broader sweep targeting foreign students accused of supporting Hamas, though evidence of direct terrorism links remains unspecified in public reports.
Additionally, a Turkish student at Tufts University was detained in late March 2025, with video evidence of the arrest by masked agents circulating widely, as noted in X posts by DougAAdams. This incident added to a growing list that includes students from Georgetown, Cornell, and Brown, totaling at least seven publicly identified detentions tied to Middle East-related protests. Earlier, in 2024, students like Symmes Cannon, Gabrielle Wimer, Hannah Puelle, and Yunseo Chung from Columbia were arrested and charged with disorderly conduct and trespassing during campus protests, as reported on X by AmyGuterman.
The funding of these protests has sparked speculation. Groups like the American Muslims for Palestine (AMP) and Samidoun, the latter designated a “sham charity” by the U.S. Treasury in October 2024 for fundraising for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), have been linked to campus activism. AMP has provided grants to student groups, and its leaders have past ties to organizations accused of supporting Hamas, per USA Today. This raises the possibility that such funding effectively supports pro-terrorism demonstrations, given Hamas’s and PFLP’s terrorist designations by the U.S. government.
There’s also a suggestive link to collectivist left-wing anti-right groups, like those historically tied to Antifa. While Antifa itself is a decentralized movement without centralized funding, its overlap with anarchist and anti-capitalist ideologies aligns with some pro-Palestinian rhetoric on campuses. Web sources, such as JNS.org, note that organizations like the U.S. Campaign for Palestinian Rights (USCPR) pay fellows to organize protests, echoing tactics seen in left-wing activism. The coordinated nature of campus protests—tents, supplies, and messaging—hints at logistical support akin to what right-wing critics have alleged of Antifa’s backing by “liberal financiers” like George Soros, though evidence remains anecdotal. This suggests a potential convergence of funding streams from pro-Palestinian and broader leftist networks, though direct connections to Antifa’s financiers are unproven as of now. 17GEN4.com
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