When the agents were informed that Khalil, of Palestinian and Syrian[4] nationality and Algerian citizenship,[5] was a lawful permanent resident of the United States in possession of a green card, they said they were revoking that instead.

The Trump administration had recently canceled approximately $400 million in federal grants and contracts to Columbia, citing an alleged failure to protect Jewish students from antisemitic harassment on campus.

[12][13] Trump additionally signed executive order 14188, which calls for the deportation of students with visas who have broken laws during any anti-Israeli protest since the October 7, 2023 attacks.

In his March 7 email, Khalil urged Armstrong and Columbia to "intervene and provide the necessary protections to prevent further harm" and asked for legal support for himself and other international students threatened with deportation.

[20] A White House official told The Free Press that the administration's argument is "not that he was breaking the law", but that Khalil threatened the country's national security interests.

[25] Secretary of State Marco Rubio, reportedly plans to launch an AI-driven "Catch and Revoke" initiative which aims to cancel the visas of any foreign national suspected of supporting Hamas or any other designated terrorist organizations.

Leavitt claimed that Khalil created and distributed pro-Hamas propaganda and made Jewish-American students feel unsafe on the college campus, but did not provide examples of any such material.

The letter was not signed by Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez who issued a statement condemning the detainment of Khalil and calling it unconstitutional and tyrannical shortly after the arrest.

[28][29] Zohran Mamdani, a state assemblymember and Democratic Socialist mayoral candidate for New York City, called Khalil's detention "a blatant assault on the First Amendment and a sign of advancing authoritarianism under Trump".

[16] Marianne Hirsch, a professor of English and comparative of Columbia University and raised by Holocaust survivors, condemned Khalil's dentention, where she stated, "criticism of Israel’s brutal war on Gaza can't be equated with anti-Jewish sentiment.

[16] New York Civil Liberties Union director Donna Lieberman condemned Khalil's detention, calling it "targeted, retaliatory, and an extreme attack on his First Amendment rights" and saying it "reeks of McCarthyism".

[31][16][32] The Anti-Defamation League said that Khalil's detention "illustrates [the Trump administration's] resolve by holding alleged perpetrators responsible for their actions" and that it hoped his arrest would deter other student activists.