Arrest of a green card holder: Future of US immigration?

Written by: Aarthi Ramnath, Raghav Bikhchandani & Yash Budhwar

Arrest of a green card holder: Future of US immigration?

The context: Donald Trump recently announced plans to “jail, imprison, or deport students involved in protests”—aimed clearly at students involved in pro-Palestine rallies on campuses last year. The administration also slashed $400 million in federal grants to Columbia University—which was ground zero for some of the fiercest protests. The claim: the school failed to combat antisemitism. According to Secretary of Education Linda McMahon: “Universities must comply with all federal antidiscrimination laws if they are going to receive federal funding. For too long, Columbia has abandoned that obligation to Jewish students studying on its campus.”

What happened now: In an unprecedented move, ICE agents arrested Palestinian activist and recent Columbia graduate Mahmoud Khalil. They raided his university-owned apartment—and first claimed that they were “executing a state department order to revoke Khalil’s student visa.” When told that Khalil has already graduated and is now on a green card—the agents said they plan to revoke that too.

Who is Khalil? He was a leading member of the Gaza solidarity movement in Columbia—and was often picked as the negotiator in talks with the university. He most recently participated in a protest in support of four students who disrupted a class on Israeli history. New York Times offers a master class in how to (falsely) imply he was one of the students—without saying so:

Khalil has been involved in demonstrations as recently as January, when four masked demonstrators entered a class on the history of Israel taught by an Israeli professor at Columbia to accuse the school of “normalizing genocide.” Videos of an unmasked Mr. Khalil at a related sit-in were soon circulated on social media among critics of Columbia’s protest movement, with some calling for him to be deported.

Soon after his arrest, Trump tweeted: “ICE proudly apprehended and detained Mahmoud Khalil, a Radical Foreign Pro-Hamas student on the campus of Columbia University.” OTOH, Wall Street Journal says he was known as an all-round good guy: “He’s a negotiator. He’s a mediator and a peacemaker.”

Where we are now: Khalil was immediately taken to Louisiana—probably to get him out of New York state’s jurisdiction. He is being kept in a detention facility. The marginal good news: A New York judge has blocked any move to deport him. Point to note: Typically, an immigration court has to issue an order for a green card holder to be deported. FWIW, the New York state attorney has intervened—and the ACLU has called the detainment an "extreme attack on his First Amendment rights."

Also this: Khalil’s arrest has also triggered a fresh round of protests—and may re-ignite the pro-Palestine rallies on campuses—which fizzled last summer.

Why this is a big deal: Keeping aside the gross violation of free speech rights, Khalil’s arrest is part of a new Homeland Security initiative to identify and punish student protestors—by painting them as terrorist sympathisers (dekho, anti-nationals!). This is the seriously creepy bit:

[T]he Department of Homeland Security started looking for individuals at Columbia University based on Trump’s January antisemitism executive order, which calls on the government to use “all available and appropriate legal tools, to prosecute, remove, or otherwise hold to account the perpetrators of unlawful anti-Semitic harassment and violence.”

The White House official said the department found Khalil had participated in “pro-Hamas rallies” and in distributing fliers. The agency presented the information to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who personally signed off on revoking his legal status. The administration says the arrest was about national security.

Soon after Khalil’s detention, Rubio and Trump promised this was the first of many arrests to follow. In other words, they’re actively hunting for protesters to deport.

Reading list: Wall Street Journal (splainer gift link) is best on Trump’s new policy, NBC News and The Guardian offer a comprehensive overview of the arrest—and fallout.

New government report: Ganga is NOT full of feces

The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB)—the apex sarkaari organisation tracking all things pollution—did a giant U-turn on the state of Ma Ganga river during the Maha Kumbh mela.

What the CPBC said first: Released on February 3, the initial report was unequivocal about the dismal state of affairs. Data collected at five different locations showed “high levels of faecal coliform (microbes from human and animal excreta).” The concentration was anywhere from 4X to 19X above the permissible limit.

What the CPBC says now: The Ganga waters are perfectly safe—and were “fit for bathing” during the mela. So why did the previous report state exactly the opposite? Answer: The “variability” in data from different locations:

[T]he data represents a snapshot of water quality at a specific location and time and may vary significantly depending upon factors such as upstream anthropogenic activities (human actions), rate of flow, depth of sampling, time of sampling, river current and mixing of currents, sampling location and such other multiple factors.

That’s an insane level of jargon to claim that data varies wildly from one location to another. They just picked the wrong ones the first time around. The Wire has a highly technical (and virtually unreadable) report on the U-turn—Mint is a little easier to read.

Manus: The new Chinese AI sensation in town

First came DeepSeek—a chatbot as powerful as ChatGPT or Google’s Gemini but way less expensive. The dhamaka sent US tech stocks into a tailspin. Now the Chinese claim to have developed the world’s first AI agent that can work independently. Manus can supposedly create custom travel plans, curate real estate properties based on your criteria, and even perform correlation analyses between stocks. One genius example:

Ji demonstrated Manus screening 15 resumes, then providing its ranking suggestions and evaluation of each candidate. He then instructed the agent to put the information into a spreadsheet. “Manus has its own knowledge and memory, so I can teach Manus that the next time it handles a similar task, it will deliver a spreadsheet right away,” Ji said

It is apparently as good as the ChatGPT Deep Research agent—and some say it’s even bigger than DeepSeek: “Deepseek was about replication of capabilities already publicly achieved by American firms. Manus is actually advancing the frontier.” Others say it’s not an actual agent. You can watch the demo below—and decide for yourself. (Quartz)

Lalit Modi’s excellent Vanuatu adventure

The context: Lalit Modi has been on the run from Indian law since 2010. He’s charged with money laundering and other financial skulduggery when running the IPL. Modi has since lived a merry life overseas—spotted in the UK, Montenegro and even dating Sushmita Sen.

What happened now: In a genius move to avoid extradition, Modi acquired the citizenship of Vanuatu, an archipelago nation in the Pacific Ocean. It’s a “golden passport”—bought with hefty investments. But his plans were discovered when he applied to surrender his Indian passport—required when you take on a different citizenship.

The government seems to have leaned on Vanuatu—and its PM Jonathan Napat—who has moved swiftly to ruin his dreams:

Napat said he had instructed his country’s Citizenship Commission to begin proceedings immediately to cancel Lalit’s Vanuatu passport. He said that a Vanuatu passport was a privilege, not a right, and applicants must have a legitimate reason for seeking citizenship.“None of those legitimate reasons include attempting to avoid extradition, which the recent facts brought to light clearly indicate was Mr Modi’s intention,” Napat said.

Modi’s priceless response: on social media: “Vanuatu a beautiful country. You must put on your bucket list.” Translation: Catch me if you can! Reminder: Mehul Choksi—infamous jeweller and Nirav Modi’s uncle—is hanging out in Antigua and Barbuda, enjoying his golden passport, as well. (The Telegraph)

what caught our eye

business & tech

Financial Times (splainer gift link) shows how Trump's 'America First' bets backfired—investors once bullish on US stocks now fear trade tariffs will stifle growth while Europe’s markets surge on defense spending promises.
Case in point: recession fears sent Wall Street into freefall—the Dow plunged 890 points, while the Nasdaq and S&P 500 bled even more. Nvidia and the rest of the Magnificent Seven took a beating by dropping more than 4% on intraday trading.
Tesla took the lead in the drop—it soared when the Donald became the President but has now fallen back to where it was because of the backlash against Musk.
In another X-related meltdown, the social media platform crashed worldwide as Musk blamed a major cyberattack—but was it a hack or the fallout of his own cost-cutting spree?

sports & entertainment

The Union health ministry wants the IPL to ban tobacco and alcohol ads this season—plus, no cricketer or commentator endorsements either.
Two arrested in NYC for stealing nearly 1,000 concert tickets—including for Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour—in a $600,000 scam involving hacked purchases.
Ajay Devgn bets big on AI with Prismix, a new media venture using generative tech to craft films, series, and music videos.
PVR INOX is celebrating Aamir Khan with ‘Cinema Ka Jadugar,’ a nationwide film fest running March 14-27.
The Guardian has a good read on Hollywood’s latest obsession—double trouble! From Robert Pattinson to Michael B Jordan, big names are pulling double duty in their new films.
No family connections? No social media clout? Good luck getting cast—many smaller OTTs and indie films now favor those with an online presence over unknown talent, though some producers are pushing back.

health & environment

A Rajasthan breeding centre just scored a big win for the endangered Great Indian Bustard—welcoming the first captive-born chick of 2025.
Researchers have found a way to turn nuclear waste into battery power.
BBC has an in-depth on how a virtual reality pangolin made a journalist cry—and why immersive storytelling could be the key to breaking climate disaster fatigue.

meanwhile, in the world

Balesh Dhankhar, founder of ‘Overseas Friends of BJP’ in Australia, has been sentenced to 40 years for the heinous act of luring, drugging, and raping five Korean women. For more background into the case and Balesh, you can read our Big Story.
Washington and Beijing are floating a “birthday summit” for Trump and Xi in June, hoping a little goodwill might ease trade tensions.
After clashing with Trump in the Oval Office, Zelensky softened his stance to keep US support. Now, ahead of high-stakes US-Ukraine talks in Jeddah, he’s met MBS, who’s angling to play peacemaker.
Damascus locks in a breakthrough deal as Syria’s Kurdish-led forces agree to merge with the government. A big deal and a great step toward unifying the war-torn country amid ongoing unrest.
Ontario just hiked electricity export taxes to the US by 25%, with Quebec eyeing similar moves—bad news for states relying on Canadian power.
Iran says it’s willing to talk to the US about its nuclear program—just a day after Khamenei shut down the idea of any negotiations.
Pope Francis is out of immediate danger, the Vatican says, as the 88-year-old pontiff fights off double pneumonia after three weeks in hospital.
India was one of only four countries to sit out a UN vote declaring July 12 as the “International Day of Hope”—a resolution backed by 161 nations and opposed only by the US.

meanwhile, in India

We are now the world’s second-largest arms importer after Ukraine—reliance on Russia dips, while sourcing from the US and France rises, says SIPRI.
The country is weighing reinstating its High Commissioner to Canada as PM-designate Carney pushes to rebuild ties after the Nijjar killing fallout.
Sugar and wheat are the biggest food inflation worries—low stock levels and uncertain yields make disinflation a tough battle.
Navi Mumbai Airport is getting a VVIP terminal—set to open by 2030—for movie stars, billionaires, and top politicians to fly in and out without the crowds.
Air India’s Chicago-Delhi flight turned back midair after 8 of 12 toilets clogged—an inquiry found polythene bags, rags, and clothes flushed down the pipes.
DGCA launches probe after an 82-year-old Air India passenger suffers a brain stroke following a fall at Delhi airport—family alleges delay in wheelchair assistance.

Four things to see

One: A group of Tibetans clashed with the Indian police outside the Chinese Embassy in New Delhi. They were marking the 66th anniversary of the Tibetan uprising—which resulted in the Dalai Lama and his followers to take refuge in India. See a clip of the vid below. (Times of India)

Two: Ahead of ‘A Minecraft Movie’ release in April, Fossil has dropped a Minecraft collab collection—which includes watches, leather wallets and bracelets. Our fave is this watch inspired by the Grass Block design of the game—priced at $220 or Rs 17,495. (Hollywood Reporter)

Three: Nope, this is not an AI deepfake. Alef Aeronautics shared a test flight video of the latest model of its flying car—Zero Ultralight—taking off and “driving” above another vehicle. See the awesome vid below. Serious Bat Mobile vibes! The company has already begun taking pre-orders for its Model A flying car—which will cost $300,000 and start production next year. (CNET)

Four: Say hello to the Louvre’s version of the Met Gala—titled ‘Le Grand Dîner du Louvre’—which also marked the museum's first fashion exhibition ‘Louvre Couture’. The event—held last week—was attended by 300 cherry picked VVIPs including Anna Wintour herself, Victoria and David Beckham, Gigi Hadid, et all. The curation displays 100 pieces from historic fashion brands like Dior and Saint Laurent to new ones such as Marine Serre. Nope, the event didn’t have the famous Met dress code. (Vogue)