‘Free Mahmoud’: Columbia students boo acting president at graduation as Khalil is still detained

A graduation ceremony at Columbia University in New York City on Tuesday was filled with boos and chants of “Free Mahmoud” as students voiced their displeasure that Mahmoud Khalil remains in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) detention in Louisiana and was unable to join the rest of the class of 2025 in graduating.

The university’s acting president, Claire Shipman, was heckled as she introduced the ceremony. “I know that many of you feel some amount of frustration with me, and I know you feel it with the administration,” Shipman said, inciting another chorus of boos. “And I know that we have a strong, strong tradition of free speech at this university. And I am always open to feedback, which I am getting right now.”

Khalil, a Columbia graduate student and green card holder, was arrested by Ice in March, the first of a series of students who have been targeted by immigration enforcement for their support of Palestinians.

His wife, Dr Noor Abdalla, accepted a diploma for Khalil on his behalf at an alternative graduation ceremony on Sunday. She gave birth to their first child last month after authorities denied their request for Khalil to attend the birth.

“I hope one day you will stand tall knowing your father was not absent out of apathy, but out of conviction. And I will spend my life making up for the moments we lost – starting with this one,” Khalil wrote to his child last month in an open letter.

Surveillance footage from Khalil’s arrest was released earlier this week. The American Civil Liberties Union said the footage “directly contradicts the Trump administration’s false claims that Mahmoud Khalil attempted to flee when Ice officers illegally arrested him in retaliation for his advocacy for Palestinian rights”.

Khalil remains in prison in Louisiana, awaiting a New Jersey judge to rule on his case. An immigration hearing is scheduled for 22 May.

Other students who were arrested in high-profile Ice raids – including the Tufts University scholar Rümeysa Öztürk, the Georgetown University postdoctoral fellow Badar Khan Suri and the Columbia University undergraduate student Mohsen Mahdawi – have since been released. Mahdawi accepted his bachelor’s degree diploma in philosophy from Columbia’s School of General Studies three weeks after being released on bail, following his detention during a citizenship interview in Vermont.

“The Trump administration wanted to rob me of this opportunity. They wanted me to be in a prison, in prison clothes, to not have education and to not have joy or celebration,” Mahdawi told the Associated Press.