Protesters in New York and rights groups have expressed outrage over the arrest of Mahmoud Khalil, a leader of pro-Palestinian demonstrations at Columbia University, as US President Donald Trump vowed further crackdowns.

According to AFP, Khalil, a recent graduate and one of the most prominent faces of the university’s high-profile protests, was arrested by US immigration officials over the weekend despite holding a permanent residency green card.

“We know there are more students at Columbia and other Universities across the Country who have engaged in pro-terrorist, anti-Semitic, anti-American activity, and the Trump Administration will not tolerate it,” the president wrote yesterday on his Truth Social platform.

“This is the first arrest of many to come,” Trump pledged.