Video shows moment Columbia activist Mahmoud Khalil is detained

By Armando Garcia & Laura Romero

A newly released video shows the moment pro-Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil was arrested by federal immigration agents at Columbia University.

The team of lawyers representing Khalil released a more than 8-minute video on Friday that was taken by his wife while Khalil was detained on March 8.

Family of Mahmoud Khalil

A still from a video released by Mahmoud Khalil's attorney of him being detained at Columbia University in New York City on March 8, 2025.

"He's not resisting," his wife, Noor Abdalla, said as she watched plain-clothed Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents handcuff Khalil in the lobby of their apartment building.

"You guys really don't need to be doing all of that," she added.

At one point during the video, Abdalla can be heard asking one of the arresting agents which agency was arresting her husband, but she did not appear to get a response.

"Nobody is talking to me," she said.

Abdalla asked an agent to provide their names to give to her attorney but the agent refused.

"We don't give our name," one agent is heard saying.

During most of the video, Abdalla can be heard repeatedly asking agents questions and recounting his arrest to someone.

Khalil's lawyers said agents originally told them his student visa had been revoked, though he is in the U.S. on a green card.

During the video, Abdalla can be heard speaking with someone either off-camera or on a phone and asking if agents had said they had revoked his green card as well.

"Can they do that?" she asks.

Khalil, a leader of the Columbia University encampment protests last spring, is being held in Louisiana as of Thursday. He has not been charged with a crime.

His wife, who is eight months pregnant with their first child, called his arrest "the most terrifying moment of my life" in a statement following the release of the video Friday.

"This felt like a kidnapping because it was: Officers in plainclothes -- who refused to show us a warrant, speak with our attorney, or even tell us their names -- forced my husband into an unmarked car and took him away from me," she said. "For the next 38 hours after this video, neither I or our lawyers knew where Mahmoud was being held. Now, he's over 1,000 miles from home, still being wrongfully detained by US immigration."

Officials from President Donald Trump's administration have said Khalil was detained for his purported support of Hamas. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt accused him of distributing "pro-Hamas propaganda."

Khalil's legal team rejected Leavitt's claims on Friday.

"As we are all, sadly, all too familiar at this point, the White House makes a lot of claims, many, if not, most of which are unsubstantiated about all kinds of subjects. This is no exception," his attorney, Ramzi Kassem, said at a press briefing.

"They have not introduced any flyers in court," he said. "The reality is that Mr. Khalil completely and vehemently denies doing anything like that, distributing any flyers like that, he has absolutely no connections to Hamas whatsoever."

Khalil is set to appear before an immigration judge on March 27.