​Protesters flood Trump Tower demanding release of Columbia activist

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 Jewish Voice for Peace protesters, who carried banners and wore red shirts reading “Jews say stop arming Israel,” chanted “Bring Mahmoud home now!"

After warning the protesters to leave the Fifth Avenue building or face arrest, police put at least 65 of them in zip ties and loaded them into a police van and city bus about an hour into the demonstration.

Khalil, a permanent U.S. resident who is married to an American citizen and who hasn't been charged with breaking any laws, was arrested outside his New York City apartment on Saturday and faces deportation. President Donald 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.”

Among the protesters was actor Debra Winger, who has discussed her Jewish faith and upbringing over the years.

Winger accused the Trump administration of having “no interest in Jewish safety” and “co-opting antisemitism.”

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“I’m just standing up for my rights, and I’m standing up for Mahmoud Khalil, who has been abducted illegally and taken to an undisclosed location," she told The Associated Press. "Does that sound like America to you?”

Protester Sophie Edelhart, who studies Yiddish at a school in Canada, said she took part in the demonstration because she didn't want to “cede ground” to Trump and “fascism.” She said the building, with its golden elescalator that Trump rode before announcing his 2016 presidential run, was a symbolic target.

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

Trump Tower 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 building’s main entrance opens to a multi-story atrium that is open to the public and connects visitors to stores and eateries such as the Trump Grill.

Khalil, 30, was being detained at an immigration detention center in Louisiana, where he has remained after a brief stop at a New Jersey lockup.

Columbia 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.

Khalil, whose wife is pregnant with their first child, finished his requirements for a Columbia master’s degree in December. Born in Syria, he is a grandson of Palestinians who were forced to leave their homeland, his lawyers said in a legal filing.