AMY GOODMAN: Mahmoud Khalil, the Columbia University graduate and protest leader being held in ICE detention, felt like he was being kidnapped when he was arrested last week and flown to Louisiana, shackled and in handcuffs by agents who never identified themselves. That’s according to an updated lawsuit filed by Khalil’s legal team late Thursday. They say his treatment by federal authorities reminded Khalil, who’s Palestinian and grew up in Syria, of the time he left Syria in 2013 when his friends were being forcibly disappeared by the Assad regime.

Less than a week after immigration authorities detained Khalil, Department of Homeland Security, or DHS, agents were back on Columbia University’s campus late Thursday to serve two search warrants. Columbia’s interim president said no one was arrested or detained and that the university was obligated to comply with the warrants.

Earlier on Thursday, the Trump administration sent a letter to Columbia with a list of required policy changes it must meet by March 20th in order to begin negotiations to reinstate the $400 million in federal funding the federal government canceled last week over alleged inaction in addressing what they called antisemitism. The letter outlines nine preconditions the university must comply with. These include disciplining students involved in Gaza solidarity protests last spring with expulsion or more severe suspension, turning campus safety officers into police, adopting a definition of “antisemitism” that could limit criticism of Israel, and taking over the Department of Middle Eastern, South Asian and African Studies. In a post on social media, the retired Columbia Law professor Katherine Franke described the letter as a “ransom note.”

Before news of the letter was revealed, Columbia’s administration announced a range of punishments affecting at least 22 students involved in the occupation of a campus building last spring. The students were expelled, suspended for several years or had their degrees temporarily revoked.

Meanwhile, opposition to the Trump administration’s attempt to deport Mahmoud Khalil is only growing. Here in New York, Jewish Voice for Peace organized a nonviolent civil disobedience Thursday in the lobby of the Trump Tower right by the golden escalator where Donald Trump famously descended as he first announced his decision to run for president back in 2015. Some 300 protesters flooded the Trump Tower lobby, demanding the immediate release of Mahmoud Khalil. Nearly a hundred protesters were arrested and face charges of trespassing, obstruction and resisting arrest. Democracy Now! was at the protest.

AMY GOODMAN: We’re here at Trump Tower, where hundreds of protesters have gathered, unfurling banners that say “Jews say do not comply,” “You can’t deported a movement,” calling for Mahmoud Khalil to be freed, banners that say “Never again for anyone,” “No Muslim ban ever.” People are protesting, saying, “We’ve got your back, students. We’ve got your back, Mahmoud. We’ve got your back, Gaza. We’ve got your back, trans people,” and more. The police are beginning to move in. Those who don’t want to be arrested have gone up the escalator. We’ll see what happens. We’re in the middle of Trump Tower, here in Midtown Manhattan.

ELENA STEIN: My name’s Elena Stein. I’m with Jewish Voice for Peace. We’re here today with 300 Jewish people and friends, all of whom are taking the day off work to occupy, to take over Trump Tower, because we know that Mahmoud’s case is a pressure test. The Trump administration wants to know if they can crush dissent altogether. So, it’s Mahmoud’s case. He’s been abducted. But they’re coming for so many more people. They’re starting with noncitizen students. They’ll move to the whole movement for Palestinian liberation. And they’ll do that as a gateway to get to the whole — all of our movements. And so, the time is now. We need everybody to stand up as loudly as possible and ensure that this case cannot go through for all of our movements.

PROTESTERS: No more deportations! End the occupation!

JAY SAPER: I’m Jay Saper with Jewish Voice for Peace, and I’m here to raise my voice to free Mahmoud Khalil. We see that the president is taking action in our name, and we refuse. We see this is a chilling of dissent. And we understand, when you come for one, you must face us all. As Jews, we have an experience with fascism, and our tradition teaches us that we must fight against fascism. So that is why we are rising up right now at Trump Tower to challenge the president’s disappearing, kidnapping, abduction of Mahmoud Khalil.

I have members of my family who were killed at Auschwitz in the Holocaust, and so I am deeply compelled by my family’s story to do everything I can to take action for all of our communities that are under attack right now. This has absolutely nothing to do about Jewish safety, and we will continue to raise our voices. When they are talking about taking action against antisemitism, that is not the case. What they are doing is stifling the movement for Palestinian liberation. And as Jews, we are calling for the U.S. to stop arming Israel, because we believe we can — our liberation is intertwined with one another, and none of us can be safe until all of us are safe.

PROTESTERS: “Never again” for anyone! “Never again” is now!

JANE HIRSCHMANN: I’m Jane Hirschmann with Jewish Voice for Peace. And we’re here to say to President Trump: He’s got to
stop this authoritarianism, this fascism. I personally know about it. My parents were Holocaust survivors. My grandfather and uncle were abducted late at night, just like Mahmoud, just the same, and they were taken to jail. And my mother had to find them and take them out. Once they come for one of us, they’re going to come for all of us. And we are here to say to Trump, “No!” And we are Jewish. We’re here strong. There are over 216 of us. And this is a message we want to send to the president.

PROTESTERS: From Palestine to Mexico, all the walls have got to go!

JOSH DUBNAU: My name is Josh Dubnau. I’m here — I’m here as a Jew, because I refuse to allow this administration to speak in my name, to use our names as Jews to carry out a fascist agenda. There is a long history of Jews fighting fascism. And we are here today, as Jews and allies, to say no to fascism. The Trump administration is a government that has far-right white supremacists, people that do the Nazi salute, and he’s fine with that. He’s fine with supporting the AfD in Germany and other neo-Nazi and far-right groups. He’s not a friend to Jewish people.

POLICE LIAISON: The NYPD would like me to communicate that this has been your final warning, and they will begin arrests now.

PROTESTERS: When Palestine is under attack, what do we do? Stand up! Fight back! When Palestine is under attack, what do we do? Stand up! Fight back!

PROTESTER: I’m a militant anti-Zionist Jew. I’m ashamed —

POLICE OFFICER: You guys press?

AMY GOODMAN: Yes.

POLICE OFFICER: You guys have to leave here. They have the press downstairs.

PROTESTER: — of what — I’m ashamed of what my country is doing.

POLICE OFFICER: You guys have to leave. Come on. Let’s go.

JAMAAL BOWMAN: Jamaal Bowman, former congressman from New York’s 16th District, I love showing up here to support people who are putting their bodies on the line to save our democracy. Honestly, I didn’t even know this was happening. I happened to be in the neighborhood, and someone told me there’s a protest happening at Trump Tower. So I walked over here to just offer my support.

I’m here fighting for democracy, fighting for justice, fighting for humanity, fighting for brother Mahmoud Khalil, who was unlawfully detained in our country that’s supposed to be a country that exercises First Amendment rights. Brother Khalil was a peaceful protester fighting against a genocide in Gaza, like millions across the country and millions around the world. We have to stand up and fight for him, and we have to stand up and fight for everything this democracy is supposed to stand for. We have a fascist, right-wing dictator in the White House. His henchman, Elon Musk, is a Nazi. And we need the people of our country to push back and fight back and stand up against all of the injustices and the inhumanity that’s taking place in our country.

PROTESTERS: From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free!

AMY GOODMAN: Former New York Congressmember Jamaal Bowman standing outside the protest, where, inside, Jewish Voice for Peace, hundreds of people gathered at the Trump Tower, where it all began in 2015 when Donald Trump came down the same escalators and first announced he was running for president. About a hundred people were arrested.

Coming up next, the Russian American writer M. Gessen, who’s spent decades writing about autocracy, will talk about Trump’s targeting of critics, the rollback of LGBTQ rights, the war in Ukraine, Gaza and more. Stay with us.