UC Berkeley Students, Faculty Rally Against Trump’s Push to Deport Protesters

As the Trump administration pledges to continue arresting pro-Palestinian protesters with the aim of deporting them, faculty and students at UC Berkeley rallied to challenge Trump’s assertion that the arrests are tied to combating antisemitism.

Students held two major campus protests this week in response to the arrest and detention of Mahmoud Khalil, a former Columbia University student and permanent legal resident of the United States who organized pro-Palestinian demonstrations on the school’s campus last year.

Khalil is being held in a Louisiana detention facility as federal officials attempt to deport him. He has not been charged.

“Solidarity alone is not enough. We must take action and move with the oppressed communities. Just as those before us who fought for our rights, just as they resisted injustice to pave the way for our presence here today, it is now our turn to rise,” second-year student Charlie Cea told protesters at UC Berkeley’s Sproul Plaza on Thursday. “We carry a privilege just being on this campus, and we need to acknowledge and utilize it.”

On Monday, UC Berkeley professors released a statement signed by over 100 Jewish faculty and staff members, urging their colleagues to refuse pressure from the Trump administration to compile lists of pro-Palestinian activists.

The protests come after White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters on Tuesday that the Department of Homeland Security has been “using intelligence to identify individuals on our nation’s colleges and universities” who took part in pro-Palestinian protests. The Trump administration has repeatedly referred to the actions as “pro-Hamas” activities that align with terrorism and threaten Jewish students.

“We expect all of America’s colleges and universities to comply with this administration’s policy,” Leavitt said.

UC Berkeley is also one of five universities under investigation by the Department of Education for reports of “widespread antisemitic harassment.” The investigation is part of the Trump administration’s promise to crack down on antisemitism in the wake of widespread student protests last spring. Critics say that the tactics stretch the meaning of antisemitism.

Associate professor Ethan Katz, who helped circulate the statement signed by Jewish faculty and staff members, said the coalition of signatories includes people with both Zionist and anti-Zionist beliefs.

“The Trump administration, when it does these things in the name of combating antisemitism, it can confuse people and give them the impression that Jews are aligned with those measures,” Katz said. “And I believe the vast majority of Jews in our community, and in most communities in this country, are not aligned with those measures.”

Although the statement does not name Khalil, it describes detentions like his as a dangerous precedent.

“As Jews, we know from our history that the compiling of lists of those who are legally vulnerable with the intent to deport is an authoritarian practice that is never benign,” the statement reads.

Bay Area officials have expressed concern that Khalil’s arrest has dire implications not just for lawful permanent residents but potentially U.S. citizens as well.

“The first amendment explicitly guarantees freedom of expression for people in the United States and everyone — including green card holders — is entitled to due process,” Democratic Sen. Alex Padilla said in a statement. “President Trump is clearly willing to weaponize the government against his political enemies or people he disagrees with.”

Rep. Mark DeSaulnier (D-Concord) said Khalil is “entitled to First Amendment protections, one of our most sacred rights in this country.”

“We should all be concerned that the President is trying to revoke green cards from people whose speech he doesn’t like,” he said in a statement. “This is a slippery slope on the path to full-blown authoritarianism.”

Just 13 representatives in the House signed a letter demanding the immediate release of Khalil immediately, including East Bay Rep. Lateefah Simon. The letter, signed on Tuesday, describes his arrest as “a direct assault on the freedom of speech of everyone in this country” and motivated by anti-Palestinian racism.

Representatives also called on universities across the country to protect their students from similar attempts by Homeland Security and ICE to make arrests.

UC Berkeley Chancellor Rich Lyons reiterated Thursday that campus police will not detain or arrest students based on immigration status.

“The UC has shown already levels of support, but we are really hoping that this support continues very strong, that we don’t buckle under the pressures of the national administration,” said second-year Renaissance Zhang, who helped organize Thursday’s campus protest.