Khalil said in a declaration filed in Manhattan federal court that while he was held overnight at a detention center in New Jersey, “I did not hear anyone mention bedbugs.”

Federal agents arrested Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian student who played a major role in last year's protests at Columbia University, students said.

Mahmoud Khalil's detention appears to be one of the first efforts by Trump to fulfill his promise to seek the deportation of some foreign students involved in the pro-Palestinian protest movement.