Summary
ICE agents arrested Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil, a leader in Columbia University’s encampment movement, claiming his student visa was revoked.
However, his attorney Amy Greer states he has a green card, not a student visa.
Despite filing a habeas corpus petition, Greer can’t locate where Khalil is being held, noting his eight-months-pregnant wife couldn’t find him at a New Jersey facility.
The arrest follows Trump’s March 4 social media threat to defund universities allowing “illegal protests” and deport “agitators.”
It really depends on where. Southern states and cities are seeing more “enforcement”. Some northern and more liberal states are fighting things. Outside of the cities I have not seen any ICE but I’m also not one of the targeted groups.
If you really are worried carry your passport.
I’m white, so totally not a targeted group. But it’s not just ice, it’s everything the US has become. Including the violence. Currently I live in a pretty peaceful place.
Do not rely on your whiteness or port of entry to give you a false sense of security. Currently a German citizen apprehended in CA and a British citizen apprehended in WA are both being held indefinitely.
https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2025/03/04/world/german-detained-ice-intl-latam
https://bleedingcool.com/comics/british-comic-creator-r-e-burke-detained-by-ice-after-crossing-border/
I didn’t hear about the British person, but didn’t the German person have work scheduled in the US without authorization to work? I’m not saying she should be held indefinitely, but she was potentially breaking the law.
Would you trust the excuses ICE provides to detain someone?
Nope. She was going to do a tattoo for her American friend, but crucially this was a personal favor and not work.
Thanks for clarifying, I read that a while ago. I wonder if it was purposeful misinformation or just bad journalism.
It’s unacceptably bad but at the same time not an issue. I realize that sounds crazy but unless you join a protest or live in or frequent a targeted community then you would think nothing changed.
This is why we don’t have mass protests yet because it’s not actually breaking out of the media sphere for most of America.
Thanks! I guess I’d be alright. I got a bit spooked recently, when my mom mentioned that there have been random shootings at the mall at the night. Not like mass shootings. But more like feuds between people.
That level of random violence does seem to be up but is still rare.