Who Is Mahmoud Khalil, The Protester The Trump Admin Wants To Deport?

The NPR Politics Podcast

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Politics, Daily News, News

4.5 • 24.9K Ratings

🗓️ 11 March 2025

⏱️ 12 minutes

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Summary

While studying at Columbia University, Khalil helped lead pro-Palestinian protests on campus relating to Israel's war with Gaza. He was taken into ICE custody earlier this week, and the Trump administration has said it wants to deport Khalil as part of a wider crackdown on what it calls anti-Semitic protests on college campuses — even though Khalil is a lawful permanent resident of the United States.

This episode: political correspondent Susan Davis, immigration policy reporter Ximena Bustillo, and senior national political correspondent Mara Liasson.

The podcast is produced by Bria Suggs & Kelli Wessinger and edited by Casey Morell. Our executive producer is Muthoni Muturi.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi, this is Kayla in Tampa, Florida. I just celebrated turning 18 today by registering to vote.
0:07.1	This podcast was recorded at 105 p.m. on Tuesday, March 11th.
0:11.4	Things may have changed by the time you hear this, but I will finally be participating in our country's democracy.
0:16.7	Okay, here's the show.
0:21.9	Happy birthday to you.
0:23.8	What a lovely timestamp to start this day.
0:26.3	Hey there, it's the NPR Politics podcast.
0:28.1	I'm Susan Davis.
0:29.0	I cover politics.
0:30.2	I'm Hima Bustia, and I cover immigration policy.
0:32.6	And I'm Mara Liason, senior national political correspondent.
0:36.1	And today on the show, the case of Mahmoud Khalil.
0:38.6	He's a Columbia University graduate facing possible deportation for the role he's played in campus protests and support of Palestine.
0:46.3	His arrest is challenging the bounds of both immigration law and First Amendment protections.
0:51.7	And we're going to talk about both today.
0:53.3	But first, Jimena,
0:54.7	can you start by telling us more about who Khalil is? He was born in Syria and is of Palestinian
1:00.0	descent. His lawyer has said that he grew up in Syria because his grandparents were removed
1:05.0	from their home in Tiberius, which is now part of Israel, but used to be Palestine.
1:10.8	He recently graduated from Columbia in
1:13.1	December, but before that, he became the face of the pro-Palestinian movement during the wave
1:18.9	of campus protests last year. He's been described as one of the negotiators between students
	...

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