Three student and local organizations have announced a protest at Rudder Plaza on Thursday, March 20, at 5 p.m. in support of Mahmoud Khalil, a student activist at Columbia University who was arrested and now faces deportation. 

Khalil played a leading role in the pro-Palestine encampments at Columbia in early 2024, bargaining with university officials to demand divestment from companies associated with Israel. ICE officials arrested him on March 8 and now aim to revoke his green card, a plan supported by President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, both of whom have claimed that Khalil supported Hamas, the terrorist organization that controls Gaza. 

The Texas A&M protest was announced in an Instagram post Friday afternoon by the student group Aggies Against Apartheid, the Brazos Valley chapter of the Party for Socialism & Liberation and the Bryan-College Station Watermelon Squad, a local “anti-zionist advocacy group.” 

“Why does protesting for Palestine, for Black lives, for immigrants get you arrested, deported, or killed?” the post reads. 

The arrest faces concerns from legal scholars that it violates the First Amendment. Khalil, a legal resident, has yet to be charged but remains in custody. On Wednesday, Rubio told reporters that “this is not about free speech … no one has a right to a green card.” 

“You’re afraid to go to class because these lunatics are running around with covers on their face, screaming terrifying things,” Rubio said about Khalil’s arrest. “If you told us that’s what you intended to do when you came to America, we would have never let you in. If you do it once you get in, we’re going to revoke it and kick you out.”

Federal authorities arrested a second student from Columbia who was involved in last year’s protests soon after the group’s announcement went live.