A recent graduate of Columbia University, who participated in pro-Palestinian protests last year, is currently being held in Louisiana by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). It is not clear if this search had any relationship with the arrest of a pro-Palestinian protester at Columbia. A spokesman for Columbia said the school is looking at the letter.
US’ Columbia University was criticised in 1968 for allowing pro-Palestinian students to take over a public park on campus. Students had taken over the park over the university’s move to build a gym in the area, which the protesters said would give only limited and second-class access to the local community. In 1968, Columbia President Minouche Shafik had testified before Congress about antisemitism.