The arrest of the pro-Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil on Saturday in New York and his detainment in Louisiana is drawing strong pushback from Americans who say the Trump administration’s plans to deport him violate his First Amendment rights.

Khalil's arrest is the first known deportation effort under Trump’s promised crackdown on students who protested the war in Gaza.

Mahmoud Khalil, a prominent Palestinian activist who helped lead Columbia University’s student protest movement demanding a ceasefire in Gaza, was arrested Saturday night by federal immigration authorities,