Columbia anti-Israel agitator Mahmoud Khalil being deported over ‘pro-Hamas propaganda flyers,’ White House says
WASHINGTON — White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt revealed Tuesday that ex-Columbia University student Mahmoud Khalil is in the process of being deported for allegedly circulating “pro-Hamas propaganda flyers” — with President Trump saying later in the day that he watched “tapes” of Khalil’s anti-Israel activism and wanted to “get him the hell out of the country.”
Khalil was arrested Saturday by Department of Homeland Security officials — becoming the poster boy of a crackdown on alleged antisemitism by foreign citizens on college campuses, though it was not immediately clear why he was selected as the initial target.
“Mahmoud Khalil was an individual who was given the privilege of coming to this country to study at one of our nation’s finest universities and colleges. And he took advantage of that opportunity, of that privilege by siding with terrorists, Hamas terrorists who have killed innocent men, women and children,” Leavitt said at her regular White House briefing.
“This is an individual who organized group protests that not only disrupted college campus classes and harassed Jewish-American students and made them feel unsafe on their own college campus, but also distributed pro-Hamas propaganda flyers with the logo of Hamas,” she said.
“That is what — the behavior and activity that this individual engaged in. And I have those flyers on my desk. They were provided to me by the Department of Homeland Security.”
Leavitt’s office subsequently provided images of the flyers to The Post.
The posters that Khalil allegedly circulated include one calling on readers to “Crush Zionism” and depicting a boot stepping on the Jewish Star of David.
Another image hails “Operation Al-Aqsa Flood,” the code name for Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, massacre of about 1,200 people across southern Israel, and bears the logo of the “Hamas Media Office.”
A different flyer bears an image of the terrorist group’s late leader Yahya Sinwar and the words “Sometimes History Needs A… Push Flood.”
“I thought about bringing them into this briefing room to share with all of you, but I didn’t think it was worth the dignity of this room to bring that pro-Hamas propaganda, but that’s what this individual distributed on the campus of Columbia University,” Leavitt told the White House press corps.
“And this administration is not going to tolerate individuals … studying in our country and then siding with pro-terrorist organizations that have killed Americans. We have a zero tolerance policy for siding with terrorists.”
Hours later, Trump slammed Khalil, who is Palestinian, and fellow protesters while inspecting Tesla car models with Elon Musk on the White House driveway.
“I think we ought to get them all out of the country. They’re troublemakers. They’re agitators. They don’t love our country. We ought to get them the hell out,” Trump said.
“I think that guy, we ought to get him — I heard his statements too. They were plenty bad, and I think we ought to get him the hell out of the country.
“I watched him. I watched tapes, specifically, I watched tapes, and you can have him, okay? You can have him — and you can have the rest of them. Let them go to school, let them learn. Columbia used to be a good school. Now it’s been overrun because of bad leadership.”
Khalil’s attorney Amy Greer did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment.
His wife, however, pleaded for his release in a statement shared through a spokesperson.
“US immigration ripped my soul from me when they handcuffed my husband and forced him into an unmarked vehicle,” Khalil’s wife said.
“I demand the US government release him, reinstate his Green Card, and bring him home.”
A federal judge has stalled deportation proceedings against the Columbia grad, who is jailed at a Louisiana immigration facility, and scheduled a hearing for Wednesday morning.
Manhattan district judge Jesse Furman wrote in a court order: “To preserve the Court’s jurisdiction pending a ruling on the petition, Petitioner shall not be removed from the United States unless and until the Court orders otherwise.”
Khalil has a green card and is married to a US citizen who reportedly is eight months pregnant.
Federal courts historically have found that non-citizens have fewer free speech rights and can be deported for holding certain political beliefs.
The Supreme Court ruled in the landmark 1972 case Kleindienst v. Mandel that the government could refuse a visa to a Belgian Marxist — after prior court cases affirmed the deportation of anarchist and Communist non-citizens.
Trump in January ordered a review to boot foreign citizens who engaged in antisemitic protests following Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks, which sparked the subsequent Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip.
Leavitt said Tuesday that “the secretary of state [Marco Rubio] has the right to revoke a green card or a visa for individuals who serve or are adversarial to the foreign policy and national security interests of the United States of America.”
