Mahmoud Khalil, who recently completed a graduate program at Columbia, has legal permanent residency, his lawyer said.

Federal immigration authorities arrested a Palestinian graduate student who played a prominent role in last spring’s anti-Israel protests at Columbia University, according to his attorney. Mahmoud Khalil was inside his university-owned residence Saturday night near Columbia’s Manhattan campus when several Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents entered the building and took him into custody,

Mahmoud Khalil was picked up by immigration officers who said they were acting on State Department orders to revoke his green card, his attorney says.