The Malaysian Consultative Council for Islamic Organization (MAPIM) has condemned in strongest terms the arrest of a pro-Palestine activist by US immigration authorities and also Washington’s weaponizing immigration laws to silence the dissent.

This comes in light of the activists continuing to sign electronic petitions demanding the immediate freedom of student Khalil, as more than two million activists signed the petitions that reject his arrest and the efforts of local authorities in New York to deport him from the United States despite his legal presence through "permanent residency".

Protesters have held rally in Washington and New York demanding release of pro-Palestine activist who led the last spring student protests at Columbia University. Khalil was arrested Saturday night by federal immigration authorities who said they were acting on a State Department order to revoke his green card.

In a joint statement on Friday by the US departments of justice, education, and health and human services, it announced that the administration of president Donald Trump cancelled around $400 million worth of grants and contracts to Columbia University, without specifying which ones are implemented in the measures.

Television footage aired by CNN shows dozens of officers in riot gear entering the building, with some carrying zip-tie restraints and heavy-duty bolt cutters

In a statement today, Columbia President Nemat Minouche Shafik said the university was cancelling in-person classes while denouncing anti-Semitic language and intimidating and harassing behaviour that she said had occurred on campus recently.

Hundreds of members of the teaching staff at Columbia University have held rally in solidarity with the pro-Palestine students who were detained by the police.

University students across the United States have voiced solidarity with pro-Palestine rallies after the police arrested activists at Columbia University on Thursday.