Jewish protesters flood Trump Tower’s lobby to demand Mahmoud Khalil’s release

NEW YORK —  Demonstrators from a Jewish group filled the lobby of Trump Tower on Thursday to denounce the immigration arrest of Mahmoud Khalil, a pro-Palestinian activist who helped lead protests against Israel at Columbia University.

The demonstrators from Jewish Voice for Peace wore red shirts reading, “Jews say stop arming Israel,” and held up banners as they chanted, “Bring Mahmoud home now!” on the lower level of the Fifth Avenue building’s public atrium.

After warning the protesters to leave, police said they arrested 98 people who stayed on various charges, including trespassing, obstruction and resisting arrest.

Khalil, a 30-year-old permanent U.S. resident who is married to an American citizen and hasn’t been charged with breaking any laws, was arrested outside his New York City apartment Saturday and faces deportation. He’s being held at an immigration detention center in Louisiana.

President Trump has said Khalil’s arrest was the first “of many to come” and vowed on social media to deport students who he said engage in “pro-terrorist, anti-Semitic, anti-American activity.” The White House didn’t immediately respond to a message seeking comment about the Trump Tower demonstration.

Among those who took part in Thursday’s protest was actor Debra Winger, who accused the Trump administration of having “no interest in Jewish safety” and “co-opting antisemitism.”

“I’m just standing up for my rights, and I’m standing up for Mahmoud Khalil, who has been abducted illegally,” Winger, who wasn’t arrested, told the Associated Press. “Does that sound like America to you?”

Protester Sophie Edelhart, who studies Yiddish at a school in Canada, said that Trump Tower in Manhattan — with its golden escalator that Trump rode before announcing his 2016 presidential run — was a symbolic target.

The building serves as headquarters for the Trump Organization and is where the president stays when he is in New York. The skyscraper often attracts demonstrations, both against and in support of its namesake, though protests inside are less common. The multistory atrium is accessible to the public and connects visitors to eateries including the Trump Grill.

Khalil’s supporters say his arrest is an attack on free speech and have staged protests elsewhere in the city and around the country, including outside a Manhattan courthouse during a brief hearing on his case Wednesday.

Columbia University was a focal point of the pro-Palestinian protest movement that swept across U.S. college campuses last year and led to more than 2,000 arrests.

On Thursday, Khalil and seven students identified by pseudonyms filed a lawsuit seeking to block a congressional committee from obtaining Columbia and Barnard College disciplinary records for students involved in campus protests.

The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Manhattan against the schools, the Republican-led House Committee on Education and the Workforce and its chairman, Rep. Tim Walberg (R-Mich.), seeks a permanent injunction barring Congress from forcing the schools to provide the records and the universities from complying with the demand.

The committee sent a letter last month demanding that Columbia and Barnard provide the records or risk losing billions of dollars in federal funding. The plaintiffs contend that the committee is abusing its power in an attempt “to chill and suppress speech and association based on the viewpoint expressed” and that its investigation “threatens to significantly infringe on First Amendment rights.”

The Associated Press left email messages seeking comment with spokespeople for Walberg, the committee and Barnard College. Columbia declined to comment on the pending litigation. Barnard is an affiliate of Columbia.

Khalil, whose wife is pregnant with their first child, finished his requirements for a Columbia master’s degree in December.

Attanasio writes for the Associated Press. AP writers Michelle L. Price, Michael R. Sisak and Joseph B. Frederick in New York and Michael Hill in Albany, N.Y., contributed to this report.