Breaking: Rubio to Review Visa Status of Anti-Israel Protesters Arrested for Occupying Columbia Library

Dozens of anti-Israel protesters were arrested at Columbia University after they stormed and occupied a campus library while students were studying for final exams, marking the largest anti-Israel demonstration on the Morningside Heights campus since last year’s high-profile encampment. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is vowing to review the visa statuses of those agitators who were arrested.

Columbia called in the NYPD Wednesday to assist campus police with arresting some 75 protesters who occupied the main reading room on the second floor of Butler library and refused to leave. The demonstrators broke into the library in the afternoon, disrupting 900 students and forcing them out of their study space during finals.

“These actions not only represented a violation of University policies, but they also posed a serious risk to our students and campus safety. We had no choice but to ask for the assistance of the NYPD, and I'm grateful for their help and professionalism, as well as that of our Public Safety team. Let me be clear, what happened today, what I witnessed, was utterly unacceptable,” acting Columbia President Claire Shipman said in a lengthy statement.

“There is a clear line between legitimate protest and actions that endanger others and disrupt the fundamental work of the University. Today that line was crossed, and I have confidence the disciplinary proceedings will reflect the severity of the actions.”

The masked group of agitators got into confrontations with public safety and defaced the library with vandalism and graffiti. Two campus police officers were injured during the mob’s storming of the library. Columbia public safety and delegates attempted to hold discussions with the demonstrators before the school decided it had no other option but to call in the NYPD. The police operation focused on arresting the students inside the reading room and making sure the rest of the agitators left the premises voluntarily.

“As I've said repeatedly, New York City will always defend the right to peaceful protest, but we will never tolerate lawlessness,” New York City Mayor Eric Adams (D) said in a statement.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio condemned the Columbia occupation and said the administration would review the visa statuses of the participants.

“Pro-Hamas thugs are no longer welcome in our great nation,” Rubio posted on X.

Rubio announced last month that the State Department had revoked over 300 visas since President Trump took office. A judge sided with the Trump administration last month in its effort to deport pro-Hamas Columbia student activist Mahmoud Khalil, a leader of the anti-Israel activities at Columbia last year. As the government went through deportation proceedings, federal authorities detained Khalil in Louisiana after arresting him in New York.

Footage of the protesters circulated widely on social media during the occupation, including a video of masked Columbia demonstrators preventing a Jewish student from entering the library. Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon said the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division was monitoring the incident for any potential violations of federal law.

The library occupation is the largest campus protest at Columbia since last year when its anti-Israel tent occupation garnered national attention and inspired similar activities on many other college campuses. Eventually, Columbia called in the NYPD last year to clear out the anti-Israel agitators after they ransacked an occupied a campus building rather than continuing negotiations with the school’s administration.

The Trump administration has proposed a consent degree with Columbia to ensure it complies with its demands for restoring the school’s federal funding. The legally binding decree would ensure a judge monitors Columbia’s changes to campus policies to address rampant antisemitism and make the Trump administration’s requested changes.

Interim Columbia president Katrina Armstrong stepped down in March after it was revealed that she privately downplayed the university’s changes in response to the Trump administration’s decision to pull $400 million of federal funding. Columbia appeared to cave to the Trump administration’s demands to crack down on disruptive anti-Israel protests, combat campus antisemitism, and expand its intellectual diversity. The loss of $400 million of federal funding prompted Columbia to lay off nearly 180 staffers this week, many of whom were involved in the administration’s terminated grants.