Jewish activists demonstrate inside New York's Trump Tower, demanding release of Palestinian protest leader

By Rabia Iclal Turan

WASHINGTON (AA) - Hundreds of activists with a Jewish peace group staged a sit-in at US President Donald Trump's signature headquarters in New York on Thursday demanding the immediate release of Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil.

Chanting "Free Mahmoud, Free them all!" "We want justice, you say how? Bring Mahmoud home now!" and "Fight Nazis, not students!" protesters with the group Jewish Voice for Peace filled the Trump Tower lobby, voicing their opposition to the activist's detention.

Many demonstrators wore red shirts emblazoned with the slogans "Not in our name" and "Stop arming Israel."

Khalil, a green card holder and a recent Columbia University who helped organize campus protests last year, was arrested Saturday at his university-owned residence in what his lawyers said is a politically motivated deportation attempt by the Trump administration.

Campaigning last year to regain the presidency, Trump, behind closed doors, vowed to "throw out" pro-Palestinian foreign student protesters if he was elected, according to The Washington Post.

Khalil was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents who claimed his student visa was revoked, even though he is a legal permanent resident and not in the US on a student visa. Agents then told him his green card was revoked.

He is married to a US citizen who is eight months pregnant. His wife condemned the arrest, saying she was “left wondering when Mahmoud will get a chance to call me.”