Homeland Security Agents discovered a pair of students’ rooms at Columbia University on Thursday, resulting in the school’s interim president Katrina Armstrong shared that it was “heartbroken” in an update of the campus community.
“I am heartbroken to inform you that we had federal agents from the Homeland Security Department at two university residences tonight,” he wrote. “No one was arrested or taken into custody. No item was removed, and no further action was taken.”
DHS agents served Columbia with two judicial search warrants signed by a federal magistrate judge, which meets the university’s requirements for law enforcement to enter non-public sectors.
The details and search objectives around the discovered rooms were not immediately available.
Columbia University punishes students who built during anti -Israel protests
Katrina Armstrong, an interim president of Columbia University, shared in a letter to the school community on Thursday night that it was “heartbroken” by Homeland Security Agents, searching for two students’ rooms on the campus. (AP)
Armstrong said, “The university is bound to follow the law.” “Our university public safety was present at all times.”
He said that the Colombia will “make every effort” to ensure the campus and everyone is safe on it, saying that the school is “committed to maintaining the law” and she “city, state and federal agencies expect to do the same.”
“I think our community has immense tension. Despite unprecedented challenges, Columbia University will remain a place where knowledge discovery is nurtured and preserved fiercely, where the law and fixed procedure rule and fixed process are respected and not ever taken, and where all members of our community are valuable and every day we say.
The University of Columbia was shaken by anti -Israeli protests for most of the 2024 people as students and other participants opposed the Israeli war in Gaza, which was attacked by Hamas on October 7, 2023. (Getty image)
The 30 -year -old Israeli agitation Mahmud Khalil discovered this after less than a week, last year, he was arrested by ICE in his university -owned apartments for his alleged involvement in Colombia on a large scale anti -Israel. He is now in snow custody in Louisiana.
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Khalil is a permanent American resident, but is Palestinian and was reared in Syria. He is married to an American citizen who is currently eight months pregnant.
When he was arrested, the DHS said it was to protect US national security, saying that Khalil led “activities related to a nominated terrorist organization Hamas.”
Mahmud Khalil speaks on April 29, 2024 in an anti -Israel encroachment on the Columbia University campus in New York. (AP Photo/Ted Shfre, File)
Khalil’s lawyer, Ramsi Kasem said that his client was “identified, targeted and detained” due to his advocacy for Palestinian rights and his protected speech “. He said that Khalil has no criminal fault, but “for some reason, is being detained.”
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White House press secretary Karolin Lewit defended the decision of the Trump administration to arrest Khalil and said that he distributed pro-Hamas publicity on the campus.
Michael Doorgan of Fox News Digital contributed to this report.
