I was a student at Columbia University, where I covered tense campus protests over the Israel-Hamas war for the college newspaper and for POLITICO. So I’m familiar with Mahmoud Khalil, a former Columbia student who I’ve chatted with in the past and appears to be the first target of the Trump administration’s effort to crack down on student protesters.

Former Columbia University student activist Mahmoud Khalil remains in an immigration detention center in Louisiana. Protesters nationwide are calling for his release, saying the federal government is violating his First Amendment rights by seeking to deport him amid the White House's crackdown on students and alleged "agitators" protesting Israel's war with the terror group Hamas.

NEW YORK (AP) — When protests over the Israel-Hamas war took root on Columbia University's campus last spring, Mahmoud Khalil became a familiar, outspoken figure in a student movement that soon spread to other U.S. colleges.