NEW YORK CITY, New York - A student of Columbia University, arrested for protesting against the carnage in  Gaza, has been moved out of New York City to Louisiana.

Authorities have not explained why the student, Mahmoud Khalil, was transferred. Officials from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested Khalil over the weekend, and transferred him to the Central Louisiana ICE Processing Center in Jena, La.

"Following my previously signed Executive Orders, ICE proudly apprehended and detained Mahmoud Khalil, a Radical Foreign Pro-Hamas Student on the campus of Columbia University. This is the first arrest of many to come," U.S. President Donald Trump posted on Truth Social on Monday.

"We know there are more students at Columbia and other Universities across the Country who have engaged in pro-terrorist, anti-Semitic, anti-American activity, and the Trump Administration will not tolerate it. Many are not students, they are paid agitators. We will find, apprehend, and deport these terrorist sympathizers from our country — never to return again," the U.S. president wrote.

"If you support terrorism, including the slaughtering of innocent men, women, and children, your presence is contrary to our national and foreign policy interests, and you are not welcome here. We expect every one of America's Colleges and Universities to comply," Mr Trump posted.

Khalil, of Palestinian heritage, is a green card holder. He is married to an American citizen who is 8-months pregnant. He graduated in December from Columbia with a Master's degree from the School of International and Public Affairs. 

A group of Columbia University's faculty members, immigrants rights advocates, and members of the Jewish community were meeting Monday night to denounce what they describe as as "the unprecedented and unconstitutional arrest of a permanent resident and Columbia graduate student in retaliation for his political activity."

Khalil has been outspoken  over the actions of the Israeli government and military in Gaza, following the Hamas-led 7 October 2023 attacks. He participated in the encampment on campus, and has given many media interviews and participated in news conferences.

"To target someone for their political speech in this way, to target a permanent resident in this way, is an aberration," Sophie Ellman-Golan, the communications director of Jews for Racial & Economic Justice and a Barnard College graduate, said Monday, describing Khalil's arrest as "so deeply wrong and scary."

Ellman-Golan was not alone Monday. Nader Hashemi, an associate professor of Middle East and Islamic politics at Georgetown University, said the Trump administration is falsely using the "noble goal" of cracking down on anti-Jewish sentiment to send a chilling message to pro-Palestinian voices.

"Objectively, what is really happening is an effort to silence all public expression of support for Palestinian human rights to placate right-wing supporters of Israel within the Republican Party," Hashemi told Al Jazeera Monday.

"To accomplish this goal, they're going after the most vulnerable people who are not American citizens, who are on visas and green cards, and they're trying to arrest them and silence them," Hashemi said.

"There's always the demonstration effect when an autocratic regime cracks down," he said. "The logic of the repressive state actors goes like this: 'If it can create a few examples of people who have been silenced, this will have a chilling effect on the rest of society.'"

"Going forward, others will be reluctant to speak out, fearing retribution."

A petition calling for Khalil's immediate release had attracted more than 1.6 million signatures at the time of writing Monday.

On Friday, prior to Khalil's arrest,  the Trump administration announced it was canceling $400 million in grants and subsidies to Columbia University, claiming it had not done enough to protect Jewish students from antisemitism.

Photo credit of Columbia University encampment: Mukta Joshi | Hyperallergic