WASHINGTON (TNND) — Homeland Security agents arrested Leqaa Kordia on Friday after she participated in anti-Israel protests at Columbia University.

Kordia, a Palestinian from the West Bank, is reportedly in the U.S. on an expired student visa. Immigration officials terminated her student Visa in January 2022 for lack of attending classes. She was previously arrested for participating in protests back in April 2024.

Another Columbia University doctoral student from India, Ranjani Srinivasan, self-deported earlier this week. DHS has accused Srinivasan of supporting Hamas.

The arrest and self-deportation follow the detention of another protestor, Mahmoud Khalil. Immigration authorities took Khalil into custody last Saturday for his involvement in the ongoing protests on campus at Columbia. Khalil is a legal U.S. resident.

The administration justified his arrest under a clause in immigration law that allows deportation of an individual determined to "have serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States."

Since Khalil's arrest, demonstrators have marched on campus at Columbia demanding justice. A large group organized a sit-in protest at Trump Tower in Manhattan. NYPD arrested more than 100 of those demonstrators.

On his podcast, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said, "Let me be clear, under US law, American citizens are protected by the First Amendment, foreigners are not. A visa to come to this country as a student, that is a permissive decision and you do not have a right if you are a guest to this country to actively undermine America...If you hate America, if you want to undermine America, do not come to this country."

Meanwhile, Columbia University announced disciplinary actions against students involved in the takeover of a historic building last spring. The university expelled or suspended students who occupied Hamlin Hall.

The school declined to report how many students were disciplined. This decision came nearly a year after the incident and followed the Trump Administration's decision to strip $400 million in federal funding from the school for allegedly failing to combat antisemitism and for a slow response to disruptive protests.

Joseph Braude, president of the Center for Peace Communications, shared insights from civilians in Gaza regarding the American college protests. His organization has a network on the ground in Gaza.

"They’re concerned that this whole campus movement is misguided because they feel that while ostensibly pro-Palestinian they are functionally pro-Hamas," Braude explained.

For now, Khalil remains in an ICE detention center in Louisiana as his case progresses. His lawyers are accusing the government of retaliation for their client exercising his First Amendment rights.

The lawyers also point to the decision to move Khalil from New York to Louisiana as further retaliation.